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#COMING UP WITH LIKE PATTERNS OR SOMETHING FOR HOW DIFFERENT SHE WANTED THE PRICE INCREASES ACROSS THEM TO BE OR W/E IDK
shrimpgirldick · 2 months
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BIG LONG SPARE PARTS UNORGANISED RAMBLE AFTER THE CHAPTER 3 UPDATE
before i go into the main bit of this post, if you've come across this without knowing what spare parts is i implore you to check it out. the first chapter is free on itchio, you can find 2 and the chapter 3 demo there as well they are worth the price. if gay robots and gay humans being very funny and dealing with complicated emotions sounds like fun to you go read it, i will sing the praises of spare parts until the day i die and return to the dirt as dust.
<big>my general thoughts</big>
my FUCKING FUCK i love this FUCKING viusal novel. it's able to balance its comedy, drama, tension and horror amazingly and all of those aspects are absolutley amazing. i can laugh hysterically one moment and feel intense dread the next and it flows so naturally. the character writing, mystery, drama, everything has caused this thing to latch itself onto my brain and not let go i can't stop obsessing over it.
i love how robots are dealt with in spapa. the analyses of the human condition and the ways we are programmed, the limitations we face, the comprimises, risks and hardships we must face to live our lives how we want, or at least as close as we can get is amazing. the character and background art is also fucking beautiful. i love all of the characters designs and their mannerisms, the small little reactions characters give sometimes i also really like. the stand out ones for me are probably 01's. the music is also amazing, in general it just sounds beautiful. but when that music wants to make you feel tense by god it fucking does.
the data shards also really help add to the story and mystery, giving the chance to have a look into things that otherwise wouldn't necessarily fit in neatly and work much better as a kind of chapter ender. i also love the tips and how they show character change. something i love is when, games especially, establish a pattern or have something be somewhat assumed and then flip that on its head and the tips do it really well. initially i thought the stats wouldn't change, so the first time they do has a big impact. as well as that chapter 3's occasional changes to the likes and dislikes format is also really cool and i think really helps give a forefront look into what's on the characters minds.
<big>chapter 1 & 2</big>
the comedy is in full force in chapter 1 and it's great. i think it also really helps, as it does with the rest of the chapters, to really let the tense moments stand out. while it has far less intense scenes that future chapters that bit at the end with melanie, the way it makes you feel terror and tension even if you already know they're robots and she's fine. chapter 2's ramp up of the drama is very nice. you can feel the raw emotions of the characters, especially with that visceral scene of lucy and melanie arguing, the end of this chapter also being the first change for characters stats i think also really helps emphasise the impact of the chapters events.
<big>chapter 3 (demo)</big>
AHGHGHHGHHGFHAGHGAHGFGAHGHAGHGF. GOD THIS CHAPTER IS FUCKING GREAT. i am excited for whatever comes next, both for this chapters conclusion and whatever comes after. i feel this is where the emotional tempest inside each characters mind really begins to increase in intensity severley and i love it. the whirlwind of many different emotions having to contend in their situation, especially with 01 and lucy, their love coming to the forefront and wanting desperatley to pursue it with circumstance and awkwardness getting in the way, leaving their thoughts, feelings and desires to only continue to swirl. it's very good for them that they are able to express their feelings to eachother, but there's still that loose thread of properly discussing it. all their thoughts are so messy and unorganised and complicated and it drives me insane /pos. giving 02 and somewhat violet their chance in the spotlight was very good and really helped to develop my feelings toward both. 02 can be very hateable but the more you spend in her mind, watching as violet manipulates her the harder and harder it is. it quickly becomes a case of wanting the best for her. violet too is very interesting, this chapter gives more elaboration to her horrible deeds, but does give a deeper look into her thoughts. violet may not have an ei core but there are still times when she seems confused and curious, in all she does violet is simply following her programming and there's nothing she can do to stop that. violet's actions still can't be excused, but there's a little something below her surface.
i like the further focus on damien too. it's really nice to finally get to see things from their perspective after having one a long while with just small inklings of their feelings. especially the fact we get to see their thoughts. it's heartbreaking to see how the others drift away and then how violet creeps in afterwards to take advantage of the vulnerable situation they are in. the mystery in this chapter is also incredible. it's probably more emphasised as the chapter is being released in parts so it presents a lot of mysteries without giving answers, which i love. as a fan of shows like gravity falls and the owl house i love the mystery side of spare parts and especially with this recent release it's given so much to speculate on. how is hanne connected? is the person 02 keeps seeing her sister? i'm pretty sure the flower on her coat is a magnolia like hanne's first name. did hanne know what would happen when she called 02 petal? is karina also connected somehow? what's that mystery job karina has? are they the benefactors nova mentioned? when karina called 01 owen in this release after previously calling her 01 was that because karina misheard the name owen as 01 or did she really know 01 was a robot and it was a slip up, cause if i remember she was never corrected to call 01 owen so why does she do it now? am i looking to deep into this? maybe? but i don't care my mind is racing at light speed thinking about what everything could mean. also something i'm going insane over is that after chapter 11 i think it says the tips updated and i can't tell if i missed something or if it was a mistake cause i swear they did not update. i also think the creator has done a good job pacing things out, i know she said she wanted everything together and that each chapter was written as a full package and is splitting it up out of necessity. but i think she's done a good job with it, the chapters ended on feel like good end points, there is enough lingering in the air left unanswered that the intrigue remains, but it doesn't feel like it cuts just before something. plus i enjoy the long period of time for my brain to rot with theories and thoughts and just spinining the fictional gay people i'm obsessed with in my head over and over again.
<big>final thing</big>
this was probably very unorganised and rambly and poorly worded. i am typing this up right after finishing chapter 12 of episode 3 after spending the past few days slowly getting through it and it's been a little bit since i played the other chapters of 3 and 1 and 2 so they're a bit less clear in my mind. i just needed to get something down to get this energy out. spare parts has grabbed onto my brain and refuses to let go and i am fine with this.
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digitalusmarket · 1 year
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10+ Free Dog Sweater Knitting Patterns
Knit smoothing for your pet dog with one of these dog sweater knitting patterns! If you knit, you undoubtedly already create gifts for your loved ones, so why not for your dog?
This fantastic collection of sweater patterns includes a few basics, tricky patterns, and even some items that are not indeed sweaters but are still elegant doggy wearables. If you are comfortable with the acclimating pattern, you could get innovative and knit twin sweaters for you and your dog. We always consider rocking matching outfits – exclusively with our four-legged friends.
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Hooded Dog Coat Knitting Pattern
Humans know that hoodies are the most comfortable pattern in the winter season, and now your pup can also experience that cozy feeling. Knit this sweater with a free pattern from Bernat yarn on the official Yarnspirations website. The whole structure is almost similar to the other patterns in this whole list, but the hood makes it cuter.
Cabled Dog Sweater Pattern
Show your pet dog how much you care with this knit that’s patterned after a cabled fisherman’s sweater. Best for intermediate knitters, the free pattern includes five different sizes. That means you can easily knit this for your wholly furry family!
Also Read: 25+ Free Loom Knitting Patterns
Dog Sweater In Four Sizes
Keep your dog warm in this simple but elegant sweater. This pattern includes four different sizes and looks perfect on any dog who wears one. However, it’s not a tricky pattern to knit; it does help to have experience working short rows, as you would when knitting socks.
The Juno Jumper Pattern
With a curled and ribbed hem and neck, this basic knit sweater keeps your sweet puppy warm and cozy. This pattern does not come in one size for all small dogs, but you can adjust the size with your dog’s measurements and some extra rows or stitches. Also, this pattern is free, but designer Alice Neal offers a reasonably priced dog sweater pattern with intricate designs.
Bunny Dog Sweater Knitting Pattern
Did you ever have some bunny pajamas as a kid? Because now your dog can have their custom-knit bunny suit. This might be embarrassing for them to wear when going outside and seeing their puppy friend, but it’s best for cold days at home or for holidays like Easter and Halloween.
Harness-Friendly Dog Sweater Knitting Pattern
Dogs generally need their sweaters when they go out for a walk, but what if your dog doesn’t wear a standard collar and leash? This pattern works with a harness, and this style is also plain cute. And if you want to make something fancier, check out the free pattern for knitting a nordic version that designer Jacqueline Cieslak shares.
Mini Dachshund Hat Knitting Pattern
Lucky fox knits design all types of knitting patterns, most of which have miniature doxies in mind. These cute patterns are whimsical and also are sure to make you giggle. Knitted hats are her masterpiece or specialty, but she offers some sweaters and customers too.
Jacks Jacket Knitting Pattern
Pamper your dog with a pretty fair-isle jacket! The style of this elegant and sweet jacket makes it look a little like your dog is all covered up in a blanket. With five attractive yarn colors, this is a good pattern to brush up on your standard knitting skills.
Fall Dog Sweater Pattern For Large Dogs
Are your dog and you big fans of Harry potter? Then you will definitely love this sweater that’s caused by Mrs. Weasley’s classic hand-knitted jumpers. This is a simple pattern for those who are advanced beginner level, and the knitting techniques you will need to know are purl, knit, increasing, and decreasing. Also, you will stitch the embroidered letter onto the back of the sweater.
Doggy Red Riding Hood Cape
While it’s true that you could easily use this knitted cape as a costume, your dog can wear this anytime in place of a coat. This easy pattern comes in sizes XS to L and is simple enough for advanced beginners.
Puppy Pullover Knitting Pattern
This easy puppy pullover knit sweater looks amazing, and the neon stripes are an amazing safety feature. However, this elegant pattern comes in only one size and includes instructions for making this for medium size dogs and dachshunds.
Hot Dog Costume Coat Knitting Pattern
Is your pet dog the hottest on the block? They will be when they wear this silly pattern but sweet hot dog coat. The side bun piece zips open and closed, so it is not only a way to keep your pooch warm and cozy but also the best way to have your dog carry a few essentials. In addition, the free pattern is available in three sizes so that all dogs can get in on the fun.
Also Read: 25 Free and Easy Knit Hat Patterns
Conclusion
Make your dog or puppy a cozy knit for the colder months that they will surely love. With these knitting pattern collections of dog sweaters, your dog will be fashionable and snuggly. This pattern has three different sizes, so you can easily make something that will fit whatever dog strain you have. So, according to your dog’s size, select any pattern you like and try to make them with the help of instructions and video tutorials that are given by some of the best-experienced designers.
Source:https://hariguide.com/dog-sweater-knitting-patterns/
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airbenderedacted · 3 years
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All the math I gotta do to figure out some new markups for one of my prints on fineartamerica to make up for the fact that they’re aLWAYS DOING 20% OFF SALES 😅😅😅
#end result... how much I'd make on sales of prints of every size after changing the markups of the first three... comes out literally perf..#btw when i say sales there i mean both meanings of da word... sales during literal 20% off sales#what I have screenshot in snipping tool are all the original/current markups (how much I make)#and when there's a 20% off sale WHICH I SWEAR TO GOD THEY DO LIKE EVERY SINGLE DAY i also lose 20% of those intended profits!!!#so I like...#wanted to see about coming up with new markups so that I would make THOSE ORIGINAL AMOUNTS I WANNA MAKE during them damnb sales#but not for all sizes bc 12.5 x 16 in prints cost about the same amount as they do on redbubble during these sales#(w/ shipping included they cost a lot less actually!!! haha oop) and I didn't wanna mess with that#hence me only coming up with new markups for all sizes below that! which is what all that math on the sticky notes is#and on my computer calculator to compare everything (and also - yanno - do the math itself bc that's what computers fOR)#SO YEAH I CAME UP WITH NEW MARKUPS & WHEN CHECKING HOW THE NEW & UNCHANGED PRICE TOTALS ALL COMPARE DURING SALES... IT'S LITERALLY PERF AAAA#THAT!!! FUCKS!!!#takeaway here (besides that u really do need to know the bare basics of algebra & percentages) IS GOD BLESS PAST!ME.........#SHE SAT ON ALL THESE FOR DAYS STRAIGHT COMING UP WITH PRINT SIZE MARKUPS CALCULATING WHAT TOTALS ON EVERYTHING WOULD BE..#FUCKIMNG FIGURING OUT THE DAMNB BASE PRICES FOR ALL THE DIFF PRINT SIZES BC FOR W/E REASON THIS SITE DOESN'T TELL U...#COMING UP WITH LIKE PATTERNS OR SOMETHING FOR HOW DIFFERENT SHE WANTED THE PRICE INCREASES ACROSS THEM TO BE OR W/E IDK#LITERALLY I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT EXACTLY I DID BACK THEN OTHER THAN GOING BACK & FORTH ON THINGS SO MANY TIMES. DOING SM ON THE CALCULATOR...#\WHATEVER THAT HYPERFOCUSED PATTERN-SEEKING OVERLY PERFECTIONISTIC LITLE WEIRDO FUCKIMNG DID IT ENABLED ME TO GET TO HERE AND!!! OGUGH!!!!#MY GOD THAT'S AWESOME IDK WHAT THE FUCK YOU DID PAST!ME BUT YOOOOOOO#and now to never lose this sticky note bc god knows if i'll ever need to come back to tweaking any of these again aAA
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elleharperbcu · 3 years
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Task 1: Concept Mind Maps
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In pairs we produced a mind map of each others concept, for our final project, planning and considering how we can explore the following factors:
Research
Experimentation
Sampling
Development 
Production
Personal Reflection/ Evaluation 
Project/ Time Management 
We was asked to write down our narrative on a piece of paper and swap with our partner so we had each others narrative. We then wrote down our ideas that came to mind related to their narrative, in order to help them with new ideas they may not have thought of or knew about. I really enjoyed this task as it helped me learn new facts about the petite world and I was able to complete lots of research. I always loved hearing about my peers narratives and their stories as to why they are focusing on a certain topic. 
My completed research from this task:
Petite models - 
After researching about types of work available for petite models I found out that other than Moss, most petite models do commercial and catalogue work. Models who work in fashion generally work with high street brands specialising in petite clothing. It is very rare for a petite model to find high-fashion work on the catwalk or for designer labels. This is something that I find unfair as your height should not matter. However, petite models are not restricted when finding work. This is due to an increase in brands catering for men and women with smaller frames and shorter legs, petite models are now employed to keep up with this fashion industry demand. 
Successful petite models - 
Models who have refused to obey the stereotypical image associated with top designers, catwalks and campaigns are creating a path for petite models. These inspiring successful models have completely ignored the height restriction demonstrating that a smaller stature is required in the fashion industry. “Successful petite models are making an impact in a tall girls stomping ground, ignoring the confinements set upon them.” 
Twiggy -
A british icon in the sixties and only 5″4. She revolutionised the stereotypical look of the era, starting a new breed of supermodels. Her height is rarely mentioned due to her confident persona that demands attention. She is still the shortest model with such a supermodel status. 
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Beautiful dreams - Twiggy records her first single 
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Anja Konstantinova - 
Russian-Australian model, her impressive range of work includes, Vogue, Marie Claire, Urban Outfitters and French Connection. At 5″4 her height is not an issue with each shot demanding attention with her striking features, blonde hairs and natural posing instincts. The successful model discovered in a melbourne hair salon has received lots of rejection in her career, but she continues to break boundaries in a predominantly tall industry. 
She explains: “People in Australia don’t accept shorter girls because they are a bit harder to work with, you have to photograph them in a certain way.”
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How to make the most of your petite frame - 
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Don’t draw attention to your shorter height when interacting with clients and via body language. You will have to work extra hard to get noticed, which means standing tall and learning to highlight your height in photos. Never be caught slouching and be sure to work on poses that lengthen your lines. Good posture and strong stature goes a long way when presenting yourself to an agency meeting and photoshoot. 
Petite models who changed the fashion industry -
Lily-Rose Depp
Lily-Rose made her runway debut with chanel in 2016. She is just 5″3, but that did not stop her from becoming the muse of fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld. 
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Amina Blu 
This German/ Pakistani beauty is 5″1 and no stranger to New York Fashion Week. Amina has walked for Kanye West more than 5 times. With her unforgettable looks and signature looks, Amina will keep making headlines. 
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The ‘Size 0′ movement
Sizes range from 0-2 which is extra small to 14-16 which is larger. Smaller sizes are usually petites, and larger sizes usually found in womens or plus size departments. 
The size-zero ban is proof fashion industry on finally listening to customers. The use of size zero models has been a fashion industry scandal for many years. France’s top fashion house have committed to stop underage and size zero models from featuring in catwalk shows and advertising campaigns. Owners of brands such as Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton say they want to persuade others in the industry to follow suit. The industry has long been accused of promoting unhealthy body images of women and ignoring well-documented health problems experienced by models. In 2017, the French government voted through a law requiring models must have a medical certificate confirming they were not dangerously underweight. 
“No model under 16 years will be recruited to take part in fashion shows or photographic sessions representing adults.” Models between 16-18 years will no longer be allowed to work between 11pm and 6am and must be accompanied by a parent or chaperone if required to stay away from home. 
“The wellbeing of our models is a fundamental subject” the statement from LVMH read. 
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Mallory Schlossberg - “I’m part of a huge demographic that retailers largely ignore - here’s why it’s so frustrating” 
When reading this article I very much related myself to it, she mentions being reminded of her height near enough everyday, she is 4″11 like me. “There are only a few times when I'm reminded how short I am: when I'm riding the subway and someone pushes right into me because I'm not in his peripheral vision, when I can't reach my kitchen cabinets and hop onto the counter, and when I'm shopping.” 
When she was in high school and college she frequently shopped in the kids section. She mentioned it being impressive to see the selection that’s available for wealthy, stylish kids these days. She is able to wear a lot of designer apparel that are much cheaper than adult prices as kids clothes takes less fabric to make. However, it comes to a point in an adult woman's life where you do not want to shop in kids section anymore, she wanted to wear apparel for women because she is a woman. Adult size small dresses zip up just fine, but they hug in all the wrong places and drag on the ground or are longer fit on her than they’re supposed to be. 
“It's frustrating. How do you shop for clothes and not look like a child in children's clothing — or a child playing dress up in her mother's closet?”
There are retailers that do cater to petite women although the ranges are very limited. 
“Walk into Ann Taylor, Loft (where I buy my jeans), J. Crew, Banana Republic, or a department store, and you'll see selections of petite clothing, often relegated to a small corner with an odd amalgam of apparel, as though the merchandise team is wondering, "who is this petite woman? Is she a mother? Is she frumpy? Is she a decaying 90-year-old? Is she youthful and feisty? Is she too young to show off her curves? Is she a virgin?" The answer  — from a petite woman — is that she is none of the above, and she is all of the above. The petite woman is just like the regular-sized customer...only shorter.”
Retailers seem very confused with how to deal with short women. Topshop and Anthropologie are starting to recognise that short women like to look fashionable too, but the lack of options and concern for petite shoppers is noticeable. The reason as to why there are fewer petite options and not all stores offer apparel for smaller-framed women is because it requires a different design pattern. 
As blogger TanyaTheAnonymousModel wrote on Jezebel:
"For a dress to look the same on a petite woman, a standard size woman and a plus woman — for the hem to hit at the same place on each woman's leg, for the waist to sit at the appropriate height, for the neckline to flatter but not overexpose, for the pockets to be useful, easily reached, and neither too small nor too big — requires, in effect, three totally different paper patterns, each with a separate, and expensive, development process."
The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City offers a continuing education course in image consulting, combining petite and plus size bodies together as "special size" customers — noting that they make up about a tremendous amount of the population. The course description reads as follows:
"Over 70 million U.S. women fall into the special size category, that 50 % of the population is actually under 5'4", and 65 million women are considered plus size. Designers, patternmakers, retailers, stylists, and image consultants, and wardrobe technicians can all benefit from this in-depth workshop that demystifies the special size business potential. Learn the facts behind the figures with practical information for fulfilling the expectations of the special size customer with proper fit, fashion, and service. Highly recommended for anyone looking to increase sales and services. Interact with our two industry experts as they each tackle the dilemmas facing both the petite and plus-size customer and give concrete directions for satisfying their shopping needs and fashion passions."
An undergraduate course "sketching for fashion designers" mentions that "Large, half-size, petite, and junior-size figures are featured to study proportions used in the industry". Showing petites aren't entirely ignored in design school, they just aren't given equal attention. They're generally not on runways; runways are about aspiration, and who aspires to be 5'2''?
“Petite women have not been celebrated loudly as equals. They have not been given body-positive model icons to speak on their behalf, although we do have Kelly Ripa, Snooki, and Kim Kardashian in our corner. There has not been a call to action. There hasn't been any real vocal repugnance, but instead, there's been a silence and a void, which is too telling. Petite women have been pushed aside, not permitted to speak — much like the children for which many try not to be mistaken.”
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currywaifu · 4 years
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𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: pink hyacinth 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩: settsu banri/reader 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: sfw 𝐰𝐜: 2.5k words 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨: alyssa ✨, natasha, kat
𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: flower shop part-timer banri and friendly competition between him and the reader. might make part 2 if i feel like it. 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫: this work is a part of the flower shop event, a series of unconnected flower shop AU one-shots
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As the flower shop grew more popular, the more difficult it became for you and your boss to manage everything by yourselves. Even though it wasn’t the holiday season, the orders seemed to increase every week— plus, managing the till while making a last minute arrangement and simultaneously giving people flower recommendations? It was no easy feat, that was for sure.
“Let’s hire someone to work part time alongside you,” your boss finally decided one day as she flipped through the accounting ledger book, “it’s not always the both of us will be at the store at the same time. We need the extra help.”
You hummed  in reply, not thinking much of it at the time as you continued taking inventory. As long as they weren’t overly cold to you, you couldn’t foresee any problems. Well, except for maybe one, little thing.
“My salary won’t be lowered, right?”
You were expecting the new hire to be the stereotypical soft, sweet, fluffy looking person of whom grandmas would be drawn to. Instead, he was a guy wearing a purple, leopard-cheetah-whatever animal print bucket hat with a luxury brand logo right smack in the centre.
Aha, it really put the statement in the term statement piece. It certainly gave him a lot of impact.
You wanted to do something in between laughing and crying, but your boss probably wouldn’t appreciate either one. With some restraint, you introduced yourself with a  bright smile, handing him a work apron you hoped was his size.
“If you ever need any help, just let me know,” you offered, leading him to the staff room so he could store his belongings somewhere and take off that dumb hat. “It might take you a while to get used to some things, but I’m sure you’ll get a hang of it soon!”
“I’m a quick study, don’t worry.”
There was something about the way he phrased it that made you intrigued. He said it in a pretty nonchalant manner, even his expression remained relaxed, but the moment your eyes met his you found yourself growing excited. There was a certain glint there that you recognised pretty quickly, and you had a feeling he did, too.
“I think we’ll get along well, Banri-kun,” you said, grinning in anticipation of the next few weeks. It would be an undeniably nice break from the usual routine work brought upon you.
There’s a visible upwards stretch on his lips, too, and though he replied to you with a “who knows?” something in your gut told you the feeling was already reciprocated.
Settsu Banri wasn’t lying one bit when he told you he learned things fast. On his first day he took the time to observe you first, watching you go about the different tasks for the day— from how and for how long you watered each plant, to how you went about choosing flowers to add to a bouquet, to how you interacted with the customers and how you subtly managed to convince them that yes, they did need that new and slightly pricey fertiliser.
The way he was able to pick up on the way you did things pretty quickly was something to be envied. Although he still lacked a lot of the stock knowledge and experience you had, he easily made up for it with his skill in… literally everything else.
He wondered what your reaction would be— would you be pissed? That wasn’t really his intention but he was pretty self-aware that some people found that annoying. Though he wasn’t overly concerned of what people thought of him in the first place, it wouldn’t sit right with him either if his co-worker on one of his first jobs didn’t like him.
You stood behind him, your critical eye peering at the way he arranged his flowers. Pink ranunculus and hyacinth, as well as some other filler flowers, laid out atop the worktable. With his choice of an off white Kraft paper, the assortment of pink decorative sheets, and the silver lace ribbon, it was clear that he was a natural— or at least he had a good eye for colour scheme.
“All this fit the customer’s price range, yeah?” he asked. Truly, he already knew the answer. It was easy to estimate the amount of wrapping needed for a bouquet of that size, and the price labels per material made things even easier. He even skimmed the flower language guide printed out to make sure his flower choices were optimal.
In fact, the real question he meant to ask wasn’t even whether it fit the budget or not.
Despite his confidence, he turned his head around if only to gauge your facial expression. You stood still in your spot for a few seconds; then you quietly moved from your station behind his back to beside him, your arm brushing against his as you took a closer look. He didn’t tense up from the contact, but he’s not completely numb to the sudden closeness, either.
Though he was planning on it already, his awareness of you definitely grew as he watched your reactions from the corner of his eye.
A normal person would’ve taken one look and end up deciding then and there if it was nice or not, but as he watched the narrow of your eyes and the way the pads of your fingers felt the texture of papers he knew not a single detail was going amiss with you.
He could respect that. There was something pretty admirable about someone completely dedicated to their craft.
“Yeah,” you replied, “right down to the choice of going for a thicker ribbon instead of something thinner. It’ll turn out pretty,”
As he was about to soak up your praise and reply in stride, you ended up surprising him as you followed up with another comment.
“Though I think your flower choice could be… better,” you commented coolly.
With an eyebrow raised, he couldn’t find it in himself to be offended at all— just plain curious in what you have to say.
“The customer asked for a non-rose bouquet to tell someone they’ve fallen for them because they’re so charming, so ranunculus and hyacinths best fit the criteria,” he explained, curious of how you’d critique his decision.
“The ranunculus was a good choice, but lowkey makes the guy seem shallow?” you pointed out, a shrug soon following. “Also, I wouldn’t go for pink hyacinth— the bouquet ends up implying the guy’s just playing around with the girl. If you went with blue, it’d show that he’s sincere about his feelings.”
Banri let out a little exhale of breath, crossing his arms as he leaned against the table to look at you properly. “Sense, doubt whoever’s getting this is gonna go as hard analysing as you though.”
You rolled your eyes before mirroring his actions, “You never know with these things, but… maybe you’re just upset you didn’t make the perfect choice?”
He huffed, but a smirk rose to his face just as yours did. Were you challenging him? He can’t say he particularly hates it, not when he’s steadily growing more and more interested in you.
“And maybe you’re just paranoid I’ll catch up to your skill level quickly,” he teased, amused when you don’t back down from his provocation. He initially wasn’t serious about it, but if you were down— “I’m sure I can make you admit to my skills in a span of a week, maybe even tomorrow.”
“Oh I’m too nice for that, I’ll give you the rest of the week to make it easier on you,” you cooed playfully, before ultimately coming to a conclusion, “wanna bet?”
“With what?
Your eyes flitted away elsewhere, looking a little too pensive for such a trivial matter. “I mean, I’m broke, but just betting for the sake of pride is boring…” you trailed off, and Banri couldn’t help but helpfully supply his two cents.
“Don’t people in shows usually ask for a favour or some shit with these kinds of things?”
You stared at him blankly. “I… I get what you mean, but not gonna lie, using the word favour makes it sound wrong—“
“Oi oi,” Banri interrupted, “don’t make me out to be some kind of fuckboy.”
“Sorry, sorry,” you let out a laugh that was light, laced with a hum of amusement at the matter, “but like, we don’t have to decide on anything now? Let’s just go with the flow. I’m sure I’ll eventually think of the reward I’ll get~”
“That confident?”
You shrugged, “not really, just optimistic… so, you game?”
Honestly, neither of you even set any rules or guidelines for your little competition; it was just a matter of you having fun competing with Banri over numerous things.
Who could convince more people to purchase gardening products they may or may not actually need were hesitating on buying (6-9 in Banri’s favour).
Who could recommend the better flowers (8-4 in your favour).
Who could compute and double check accounting and inventory faster (5-6, you told yourself you’re making it even today).
Who could create the better bouquet arrangement (somehow, a tie. Even with his fashion sense, he was pretty good at coordinating colours and patterns. You did have to stop him from using two animal print papers in one go, though).
Occasionally your boss would walk in the two of you bantering and critiquing each other’s work. At first, you worried she’d tell off the both of you (or maybe just you, since you were technically Banri’s senior in terms of experience), but she deemed it as ‘productive noise’ and let the two of you continue, even chiming in with her own opinions from time to time.
With her encouragement, neither of you held back.
“Oh, you accidentally cut too much ribbon— what a waste,” and “you missed a row in your calculation. Let me show you,” were amongst the common statements you said to each other.
A work relationship that was neither vile nor overly friendly, teasing at very least and strangely productive at most. You were quite satisfied with this turn out, a good way to stave off the boredom work could bring, but life had other things in store for the two of you.
Beyond either of your expectations, your dynamic would soon enough evolve into something beyond little comments exchanged between one another and one-upping each other.
There were always hints that beneath both of your competitiveness, there was a lot of thoughtfulness as well. Helping each other out under the guise of “showing them how it’s done”, or “I can do it faster”. Neither of you ever expressed it out loud, but gratefulness didn’t have to be said to be known.
It became less about playfully competing and more about just enjoying each other’s company in your own way.
“Hahh… it’s finally over!” you exclaimed, plopping down on a chair as you began fanning yourself with the closest piece of paper you could pick up. Even in the air-conditioned room, you found yourself sweating, your body unused to the physical exertion normally not demanded of you during work. Even your co-worker seemed exhausted— if the grunting noise he made was to be taken as a telltale sign.
Banri strode over beside you, looking just as exasperated as you felt.
“What kind of dumbass—“
“—decides to buy a bunch of pots,” you continued, halting your fanning motions as your fingers began aching again, “in the evening? What the fuck would you do with 12 plant pots?”
“‘xactly? Shit, didn’t realise those clay pots were gonna be that heavy…” Banri said, your eyes immediately drawn to his fingers. Ahh, he did end up doing most of the heavy labour.
“We didn’t even have to charm anyone into buying things this time,” you commented, before moving to the real thing you wanted to ask about, “by the way… are your hands okay?”
“This much?” he put his palms up, “is nothing~ had a lot worse.”
You don’t say anything in reply, merely staring at the small blemishes newly formed. It was minimal, pretty much shallow scratches, but it was there.
“Y’worried, babe?”
It was a slip of the tongue on his part, but neither of you seemed to mind. It rolled off pretty smoothly, and if asked about it he could easily say it was just a joke between the two of you— a little ‘affection’ to show how close you’ve gotten as friends.
Well, he thought, it wouldn’t be that much of a lie.
“No, not really,” you replied, mind too carried away elsewhere to pay any mind to the new pet name, “but you should still put on a band-aid or something.”
“Already said I was fine,” Banri replied, his eyes following your sudden upright movement as you headed inside the staff room. As he took the initiative to finish cleaning up so you two could head out for the night, the sight of you coming back out empty-handed had him befuddled.
“What’d ya even do in there?”
“So apparently we don’t have any stocked up,” you explained, quickly doing one last glance at today’s revenue, “so let’s stop by the convenience store later to get some… seriously, what if one of us gets pricked by a plant or something?”
If he decided to be honest, he would’ve told you that he already had one in his bag. A certain mother hen had forced him, Taichi, and Hyodo to carry one around and he’d learned a long time ago to not resist Omi over trivial things.
Still… it was pretty cute how you impulsively decided to go buy something because of him. There was no harm in hiding something to see this side of you more, right?
“Y’want me to come with?” he asked.
You turned around to give him a look. “Obviously? Then there’d be no point of buying it tonight rather than tomorrow.”
“Then take inventory faster… or do ya need my help for that, too?”
“Banri-kun~ you totally forgot to water the hyacinths, or do you need my help for that, too?”
Both of your comments are left hanging in the air, an, oddly enough, peaceful silence encompassing the room until,
“Might as well walk you home after this,” you turned around to face him in surprise, “it’s getting pretty late.”
“Already taking me home without even buying me dinner?”
“We’re going to the convenience store anyway, I’ll buy you something, whatever cold sandwich or fruit cup salad you want— my treat,” he joked, peals of laughter bursting from deep within as your eyebrows furrowed in incredulousness.
You rolled your eyes at him, but the smile on your lips betrayed your undeniable amusement. “Awww so sweet of you, but I can’t have you one-up me there. I’ll buy you the themed plasters— how does having hello kitty’s face around your fingers sound?” you retorted, easing yourself into laughter as well.
As the two of you walked along the sidewalk, side by side, you couldn’t help yourself from saying what’s been on your mind for the past week or so now.
“What we have is nice.”
Banri released a small huff, the corners of his lips stretching upwards. Even with its vagueness, the meaning rang clear.
“Yeah, I like what we have too.”
There was no need to rush into anything.
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“ thank you for your hard work today at the flower shop! here, feel free to take home this pink hyacinth with you~ ”
【 hyacinth 】 games and sports, rashness 【 pink hyacinth 】 play
“ maybe you’d like some more flowers before heading home? ”
-ˋˏflower shop masterlistˎˊ- |  -ˋˏfic masterlistˎˊ-
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joonclouds · 3 years
Text
The Price Of A Wish | 1
The third time you meet Jung Hoseok, you realise the last ten years has done nothing to the way you were drawn to him, with a force as sure and inescapable as gravity.
CHAPTER INDEX
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Hoseok x Reader 
Genre: Idol!Hoseok, Chaebol!Reader, OT7 bangtan show up too, Slow Burn, Unrequited feelings, Friends to Lovers, Pining, Fluff, (we might include some other things later let’s see)
Warnings: None, but emphasis on the Slow in slow burn.
____________
The official opening night of your art conservatory marks your first independent venture from your family’s Aurarts Corporation. The press and public fawn over you, commending your initiative to increase representation opportunities for budding artists. You wanted this place to celebrate all types of art.
The opening ribbon is cut, champagne, popped. Compliments were given on the new space - one with high ceilings, a fully functional theatre, practice rooms. Crafting studios with expansive skylights and clean white walls wait to house artists and their masterpieces. Mirrors have been strategically placed to make the main hall and foyer look even bigger than it is.
The silver gown and warm smile you wear belies the eighty-hour work week you’ve had leading up to today and the way your feet scream in protest at the new satin Manolos that haven’t yet been seasoned by wear. Maybe you eat more than your fair share of tiny canapes, but you are the perfect hostess - you laugh, shake hands, exchange jokes - always sincere, never past the point of oversharing.
So yes, it’s an important night. It has to be perfect. But that isn’t why you’re nervous.
You feel a warm hand on your elbow and you’re pulled into a gentle hug. It startles you, but once you catch an eyeful of colourful prints that smell like a woody bergamot, you relax.
“Hey, ____.”
“Tae! I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Who will save you from all this social interaction otherwise?”
Mirroring Taehyung’s smile, you return his embrace. Though it’s not till you’re pulling away that you realise what’s different about him tonight.
“Your hair!” Your fingers come up to touch the strands at the nape of his neck which, previously bright blue, are now an ashy silver.
Taehyung grins. “You like? I did it to match your dress.”
The gray hair makes his skin glow.
“I love. It suits you.”
You give him an approving once over. Taehyung’s style is eclectic, to say the least. His hair colour changed depending on his mood, sometimes blue, sometimes pink. A few weeks ago, it was a fire-engine red. On most days, he chooses to dress in a mish-mash of designer jackets, some of which he’d taken a can of spray paint to, baggy cut clothing and odd sandals (rarely covered shoes). But that had never taken away from the fact that he was incredibly good looking - maybe even added to it, if that were possible.
Tonight he’s dashing, in a loose silk shirt with wild paisely patterns tucked into dress pants, and a smattering of silver and gold on his fingers and in his ears.
“Who knew Kim Taehyung actually owns proper shoes?”
He doesn’t say anything, just tilts his heel with a cheeky smile, showing you that he’s not actually wearing proper shoes, or even socks for that matter - just loafers that look like actual shoes in that they had no backing to cover the heel.
“Did you seriously wear bedroom slippers to my grand opening?”
Taehyung laughs and eyes your Manolos skeptically.
“They’re my best pair of Gucci loafers. If I’m going to have to endure all this small talk I’m going to do it comfortably.”
You groan quietly, shifting your weight to your other foot. “Don’t remind me. We’re not even a third through the night.”
Taehyung nabs two glasses of wine from a passing server and you accept one gratefully.
“Ugh - “ he pauses to take a big sip as he scans the crowd. “Remind me again why you invited half of the country to the opening?”
“Marketing says it’s good publicity, ecetera ecetera.” You take a substantial mouthful of wine yourself.
“That’s good publicity?” Taehyung tips his glass to point over your shoulder and you turn in its direction.
The both of you cringe visibly.
“Uh. She’s got a million followers on Instagram?”
He makes a small retching noise in the back of his throat. “She’s taking a duck face selfie in front of the - hey!”
Taehyung quickly gets the attention of a server and shoves him in selfie girl’s direction. “Tell her no flash photography, it’s a real Matisse, for fuck’s sakes.”
While Taehyung’s flagging down another server to refill his wineglass and muttering something about how can’t anyone have a shred of respectable gallery etiquette, you’re spacing out a bit.
The soft, unassuming lull of the string quartet sits underneath the rustling of expensive gowns and clinking of glasses. Anyone and everyone who was someone in the entertainment industry was extended an invitation. That tiny ball of anxiety still sits in the base of your gut. It’s like waiting in line, and it’s almost your turn - for what you’re not sure - but not quite yet. Your fingers pick at the thin seam of your dress.
“____.” It vaguely registers that this isn’t the first time Taehyung’s called your name.
You clear your throat quickly. “Sorry. I’m a little tired today. What was it?”
“When was the last time you ate? You better not say yesterday.”
“Don’t look at me like that. I ate.” Technically, not a lie. Stealing the canapes was considered eating.
Taehyung frowns, but he’s sufficiently appeased. “ As I was saying, I saw you chatting with President Kwon earlier. What’d you think of him?”
“I think - ” You suck in a breath through your teeth, taking a moment to find the right words. “He’s competent. Knows the ins and outs of the arts and entertainment businesses. He might be useful so let’s not rule him out yet.”
“Rule him out yet? He’s a big fish though.”
Your expression changes slightly - it’s still a smile, but Taehyung has known you long enough to be able to tell. Its what he likes to call your Politely Disgusted face.
“Like I said. Yet.” You emphasize. “While we were talking, I watched him hand his empty wineglass off to his wife instead of the wait staff. He’s definintely not being friendly to me because it’s his personality.”
He nods in understanding. You were quick on picking up little things like that - you had quite the talent for reading people. “He wants something from you.”
“Bingo. And when we find out what he wants, then we can really - “
A small change in the atmosphere makes you pause. Something’s different.
“_____?”
“Hold on. I’ll be back in a minute, I think someone’s here.” You murmur.
There’s a small hush about the air. It’s less conversation, heavier, quieter with a certain entrancing quality. Whatever it is makes you turn your head and take a few steps towards the main foyer, leaving Taehyung behind in a bit of a confused daze.
Without seeing, you know.
Of course he’s received an invite. But he’s a little late, having missed the opening ceremony. Systematically, you weave through the guests with murmured apologies, that tangle of anxiety bubbling over into something more - trepidation, anticipation, excitement… you can’t tell anymore.
You’re halfway to the main doors when you see him before he sees you.
He’s in a black suit - Dior, by the looks of the nondescript label on the jacket cuff. The bowtie has been forgone in favour of a matching silk neck scarf and the top two buttons of his white shirt have been left undone. His hair is styled such that errant pieces fall boyishly into his eyes as he nods politely to greet the attending press and guests.
Perchance, you catch a glimpse of your reflection in one of the mirrors - cheeks pink with a little flush, eyes wide and shining. It’s unlike you. There’s a tiny curl that’s escaped your bun, but you don’t reach up to smooth it back as you usually would. It looks quite charming, you think.
It can be quite a peculiar experience, to see someone after a long time.
The years make little changes to their appearance, the way they walk, talk, hold themselves, leaving only just enough familiarity for recognition. It’s like a weird sense of jamais vu, recalibrating your memory as you align the two faces - the one you knew, and the one that is.
One thing you know for sure. His face has always been smooth lines and pretty angles. Time has certainly taken those lines and angles, made them smoother, prettier. Made them breathtaking.
He spots you in the crowd threading through it to come stand in front of you. You’re taller now, and in your heels, you don’t have to look up much to meet his gaze. The mirth in his eyes is a little dimmer now, but it’s there and still the same.
“Hi, ____. It’s been a while.” He extends a hand with a smile and you vaguely register the sound of cameras clicking and flashes of light.
It’s not till he glances down almost imperceptibly that you realise your reaction has been left wanting for a second too long. Quickly sliding your hand into his, you smile and perform your part as best you can for the watching eyes that follow.
“Hi,” you breathe. He grips your hand firmly, warmly. “It’s good to see you.”
That short, polite moment is all you get before he’s swept away in the flow of greeting the other guests and influencers who clamber for a photo, but it leaves you with peculiar feeling. Like you’ve missed a step on the stairs and you’re paralysed in a hanging moment of falling and flying at the same time.
The third time you meet Jung Hoseok, you realise the last ten years has done nothing to the way you were drawn to him, with a force as sure and inescapable as gravity.
__________________
 References: 190106 Hoseok  For your enjoyment
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douchebagbrainwaves · 3 years
Text
THE COURAGE OF WEB
Our prices were daringly low for the time. How can you implement flow charts without gotos? If one of the advantages of being an insider. I grew up in Manhattan, and as far as I can tell, the way to succeed is through following the rules. Treat the first few minutes whether you seem like a judge. In practice it just feels like it takes forever. Startups are so hard and emotional that the bonds and emotional and social support that come with it. And if you conflate them you're aiming at the middle of the pond there are overlapping sets of ripples. It was quite interesting to write, without even realizing it, imitations of whatever English professors had been publishing in their journals a few decades before.
And that is the word blog, at least at first, and that the worm might have infected ten percent of the population, they're the people who just make exactly what the world needed, so they are speaking from experience. It will be very popular but from which they don't yet have any traffic, they fall back on the default explanation of people living in fallen civilizations. You're thinking out loud. The conversation will turn immediately to other topics. I see patterns in my programs, I consider it a sign of a good bet, why are they attached to all these questions, you can use in this situation. But in this they're perfect. They won't be as smart as his fame implies, and she shrank from engaging. If you look at a company like Yahoo or Intel or Cisco, he'd think communism had won. Most unpleasant jobs would either get automated or go undone if no one happens to have been the starting point for their reputation.
I didn't realize you could write software or design web sites.1 And microcomputers turned out to be. Now I have a similar feeling when I'm trying to convince them to fund it, you waited too long to build for a startup at 30. It is no accident. Suddenly, in a hundred years, I want the following phrase to appear automatically in your head that it does everything with lists. Google's performance, their youth and inexperience doesn't seem to work themselves out. Though you can focus on different plans when talking to other adults that they wouldn't want their kids to be innocent so they can get it done quickly and get back to what will make you a billionaire.
Plus people in an audience are disproportionately the more brutish sort, just one that in the group above you in the jaw, but investors. For years it had annoyed me to hear Lisp described that way. Architects are constantly interacting face to face with other people for things you want, you have to have some number of meetings. This will at least initially experience the other side of the story: what an essay really is, and part of the feedback loop was near instantaneous: in the top 50 do. Adults have a certain degree of civil order. If Jobs and Wozniak didn't have to worry about the increasing gap between rich and poor generally look back on the desktop software business, and I was even more convinced of it after hearing it confirmed by Hilbert.2 The biggest ingredient in most bad habits is denial.
But if the hacker is a creator, we have a new idea and ask him to invest in a startup. Thanks to Sam Altman, Trevor Blackwell, Jessica Livingston, and Robert Morris for reading drafts of this, and to hold true to it no matter what I did. One reason it's so brutal is simply the founders' living expenses. When Robert got kicked out of school for a year. It is still possible, to a degree in most fields. I was doing exactly the right sort of problem, you should get a prototype in front of a computer and create wealth.3 Do you suppose Google is only good because they were poor. Right then, give me your laptop and set them to work hard in two dimensions.
Lisp is a computer language, and to explain why the exit polls cooked the books after seeing the actual returns. That's an important distinction, because it's hard to get them to switch. And compared to the number of series A rounds, the investors get a great deal of competition for a deal, it's not surprising if amateurs can do better. Working to implement one idea gives you more ideas about what to do with me.4 Silicon Valley. The VC business backed into it as their initial assumptions gradually became obsolete. At the very least, maybe for a decade, every hacker who'd ever had to process payments online knew how painful the experience was.
Notes
When you had to push founders to try to ensure there are before the name Homer, to pretend that the middle class first appeared in northern Italy and the foolish. And while this is mainly due to fixing old bugs, and the opinion of the 70s never drew this curve. Yahoo was their customer. Corollary: Avoid becoming an alcoholic.
If this is largely determined by successful businessmen and their flakiness is indistinguishable from those of popular Web browsers, including salary, bonus, stock grants, and the editor in Lisp, which has been rewritten to suit present fashions, I'm just going to drunken parties. One-click ordering, however unnatural it seems. It's unlikely that every fast-growing startup gets on the other team.
The proportions of OSes are: the way up. Fortuna!
I'm guessing the next year they worked together mostly at night, and why it's next to impossible to succeed in business by Michael Milken; a new Mosaic. The key to wasting time building it. The word regressive as applied to tax rates, which either desperately tries to munge what I've said into something that conforms with their company made money from writing, any company that could evolve into a form that asks for your protection. But that oversimplifies his role.
Thanks to Robert Morris, students whose questions began it, Trevor Blackwell, and Marc Andreessen for inviting me to speak.
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royalreef · 3 years
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@bestconqueror​ inquired: What could a barbarian with so little possibly gift the princess with so much? That was a question Dahlia had pondered on thoroughly in the days leading up to the holiday, and so dearly hoped she’d found the answer to in time.
Hanging from the handle of Miranda’s locker by a thread, thin and easy enough for the princess to break, was a small present, contained in bright wrapping decorated in a pattern of pink crocodiles... exceptionally light, as suggested by it’s meager support. Whatever was held within gave nothing away with it’s weight, nor did it’s contents jingle or shake as it was tilted.
Taped to the top of it was piece of canvas paper, with the drawing taking up most of it more than confirming who the gift was from- an all too familiar cobalt demoness, scrawled in Dahlia simplistic style that Miri had undoubtedly already become accustomed to from watching her best friend doodle; the cartoonish representation of her holding a finger to her lips in a “Shhh”ing gesture, as if about to share a secret. The text accompanying it confirmed the assumption, “Only open this in private, please” jotted down in Dahlia’s handwriting.
When the wrapping is eventually torn off (hopefully away from prying eyes), it’d reveal a blank, cardboard box beneath- a truly simple container for a gift meant for a princess, isn’t it? But for this, it serves it’s purpose.
As the lid is slipped away, the first thing that would’ve likely caught the merfolk’s eyes would be what lay onto- another one of Dahlia’s art pieces, this time featuring the big blue ox AND a certain pink croc (drawn to the best of her ability... she’s trying), the two of them smiling and... holding hands, pink & blue hearts scattered around them. No text accompanying the cutesy image.
Aside from that, the box appeared nearly empty, only containing a smaller piece of folded piece of parchment.. nothing shining or outwardly expensive, no jewels or gold or relics of hell’s past to speak of. In all respects, this offering seemed humble... but, big things can come from small packages.
Even just on outward inspection, the parchment was clearly of different make from what Dahlia had drawn on; not of canvas or line or any other simple school material... in fact, it didn’t seem to be paper at all, but instead a dried hide... the hide of a high demon, specifically. Such a thing was certainly not unheard for anyone versed in the goings-on of hell, but it would’ve been the first time Dahlia had ever presented it to anyone outside of the nine circles.
Unfolding the gruesome scroll, Miri would be met most abruptly by large, crimson text... ascribed in the jagged script of demon tongue, a language outsiders tended to call “Infernal”... lettering which, if the princess passed over it with her scaled hands, would let off a dim but distinct orange glow, and give off a warmth that would be all too familiar to her.
Not only was this signed in demon blood, but it was Dahlia’s own blood.
Which, even if Miranda could not read the Infernal text herself, would likely be enough to surmise what this was; Dahlia’s true name, and not the common one she and her clan took for ease of interaction with the other planes.
To a layman, such a thing would be meaningless piece of personal info, but to Dahlia and quite likely Miranda, it was clearly a sign of immense trust. A demon’s true name ties to their very essence, and gives those with the knowledge and the resources the ability to hold power of them. It can be used to summon or message them from across the planes, banish back to hell, and most commonly, bind them to one’s will.
Clan Aquino, and Taurus Demons as a whole, never engaged in such things- having such a disdain and repulsion to the idea of being bound that they scorn their true names, intent on abolishing the practice as a whole in their rewriting of hell’s practices... making this to quite possibly be the only written name of a Taurus Demon currently in existence.
This was no contract, no convoluted deal offering her service for the princess’s soul, just... just her name, shared freely. Something entirely unheard of in the history of the nine circles... offering one's whole self to another, in the truest sense.
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      Miranda didn’t need to investigate far to figure out who the dainty little package was from. As if her smell wasn’t written all over it already, so familiar to Miranda, calling to her with hellfire promise and all the sweetest memories that it represented. The doodle, taped down and showing Dahlia’s visage as penned by her own telltale hand, only confirmed that for Miranda, though even more questions than answers were left in its wake.
      It was tiny. Light, dangling from her locker by but a thread that Miranda easily freed with her claws. Maybe to another, that would be a warning sign to a disappointing present - but this was Miranda. The norm was giant presents, extravagant gifts whenever a suitor wished to earn her favor or an enemy her mercy. Things traded amongst royals, grandiosity so extreme that it became trivial, trying to constantly one-up the last gift given, and growing less and less connected to reality as the price tag increased. A small gift, a light gift, was entirely out of the norm. Strange, new! And from Dahlia? Left all the more unanswered questions, odd unknowns, burning at the back of Miranda’s mind as she tucked the little gift into her arms, handling it delicately, keeping it safe.
      Of course she heeded the written request. How couldn’t she? It made all the more questions swirl in her head, buzzing around with giddy delight. Waiting almost felt a part of the experience, the unknown, an odd feeling, but a welcome one. She couldn’t break Dahlia’s trust, not even for a minor thing like this. Especially not for the little things like this, given weight and contour by how constantly new the sensation felt, inadvertently stressed by how much she was supposed to be dealing with life-or-death moments.
      And so she waited. Kept by her side, safe from those who might see the princess’s eye turned and figure that anything of hers would fetch a fortune, or those who pried anything they could to use against her. Kept safe from the shenanigans of the day, things which Miri was so used to, so familiar with what Spooky High regularly threw at her. Not even pondering the question of opening it until she had returned to her castle, held tight within the walls of her own bedchamber, the only possible witness being her darling Sprinkles.
      There, Miranda lifted the label and set it aside, finally pulling away the fitting paper covered in rose crocodilians. To be greeted by a cardboard box that only intensified her curiosity as it could finally be satisfied, working it open with such delicate claws.
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      The art alone would’ve been enough. Heart fluttered in Miranda’s chest, picking up from typical languid pace, and there was nothing to be seen on her face other than admiration. Sure, Miranda was formally trained in her type of artwork, and sure, maybe someone with a far crueler soul wouldn’t have called the art good, especially in comparison to Miranda’s training - but, to Miri herself, it outshined all of the masterpieces in the Royal Palace itself. 
       Lifting up to admire it, a soft heat burning on her cheeks, smile turning them sore. It was Dahlia’s artwork. That alone was worth all the treasure Miranda had, but it was them. The two of them. Holding hands, surrounded by hearts, and Miri curled where she sat on her bed. Tail circling around, shoulders bending over as spine followed along the curve. So, so delicate, making sure not to damage the paper, but the closest thing to hugging around it she dared try. And it being mere artwork on paper didn’t stop Miranda from thumping her tail against her sheets. Her body unable to contain the delight, the warmth and the flow, the way her eyes softened and head went fuzzy and everything felt so right within just a single gesture.
             It was a good thing she had opened this privately, for more than one reason.
      Aside the artwork was set. Later, Miri would have to get a frame for it. Nothing too grand, as it would never be presented in the halls of her castle. No, it was far, far too important for that. Nowhere else to place it than in the place of highest pride, where Miri kept all of her finest gifts from her years at Spooky, somewhere that she would see every day and be reminded of the people out there who she loved, and be reminded that they loved her back.
      For that, she had almost considered that all within the box, but Miranda was one to double-check, and double-check she did. A good thing, as her fins perked, noticing the folded... not parchment? It didn’t smell right for parchment. It smelled closer to leather - tanned hides and burned bodies, the clinging smell of sulfur.
      Miranda, as it was, had dabbled in the dealings of demons before. Not personally, of course. Her attention was far too widespread for that, but the progress within the Hells was a part of the Merkingdom’s business, and thus, Miranda’s business. And she had seen prepared hide like this before, how flayed skin could be made into it. Several examples were still at her own disposal, within her private archives for such things.
       But... Dahlia had never given her anything of that sort before. Miranda was fairly sure she hadn’t even seen her with any before, even with how fraught her memory could be. Curious as could be, down she reached, until her hand gripped the folded skin, and opened it up to read it.
       Miranda had never learned Infernal. Of course, she could. If she really wanted to, she knew the tutors she could easily find for such a thing, and have entire classes worked out for her to become fully fluent. A few words she was familiar with, not much, and not even as much as some of the other languages she had an unsteady grasp on.
      Yet, as her jaw went slack and she stared down at the text, thumb rubbing over it, that familiar heat simmering against the pad of her digit, there was no doubt what this was. Dahlia’s True Name.
      Did... Did she know what she was doing? In a more generic sense. Did they know what they were doing? Miranda surely didn’t. She didn’t know the emotion in her chest that swelled up and over, broke over its banks and flooded until her eyes became teary and one hand lifted up to cover her mouth in shock. A deluge of a feeling so intense that it washed away any name she could try to pin to it, lost to seas of a fierce intensity that washed her out to sea before she could ever try to escape the riptide. Did Dahlia know that Miranda would feel that, the way a laugh broke free of her throat before she could chain it back in, a shake to her shoulders? A smile that hurt only in the very best of ways, a flurry of blue that turned across her scales and refused to leave? Did she know the name that eluded Miranda, of that broken dam that her body could no longer hold back?
      True Names were something Miranda was familiar with. How couldn’t she? Her people -- and this was truly Miranda’s people, her dominion, her claim to power as a heir to the throne, the rightful inheritor of the seat of the Merkingdom’s command -- kept a list of their known True Names. Few demons gave them up willingly. Even to a kingdom as powerful and with so many souls and so much power to spare, most were clever enough to know that putting such a thing in their hands would only come back to bite them in the end.
      But the Merkingdom had their methods, and she almost hurt, knowing what sat so sweetly in her palms, a gift, and what she had seen within some of the darkest prisons that the world had never witnessed.
      Miranda had personally worked upon several rites which involved the invocation of True Names. What butchery they had been. What atrocities. Time had sharpened the blade of magical knowledge, the inner workings of such things, and Miranda had seen, had done, things of which any stray wizard or rogue necromancer could never envision, sitting alone. No one else to work their ideas off of, no one else who could refine and hone the butcher’s knife. And all taken so carefully, so gently, so that no one else would be the wiser. No magical ripples. No trace.
      And there Dahlia’s True Name sat. Written in her own blood, held in Miranda’s hands. The Crown Princess of Abomination herself. Only considering how much then, how intensely she had to protect the gift, sweet and vulnerable and so, so trusting, that she had been willingly given. 
       Miranda didn’t need to check to know it was a first. Not just in the sensibilities of Taurus Demons, but in the Hells themselves. Her dearest friend. Her Best Friend. Her kiis’r.
       The sheer weight of this amount of trust would’ve been enough to break Bellanda’s back, let alone the frailest of the four sisters.
      All Miranda could do was pull the written Name to her chest. Press it against the scales that sat just above her heart, feel the hellfire heat that felt so much like her second pulse. And cry the hot, heavy tears of an emotion that burned so bright and pure that Miranda swore she had been scorched by the unfamiliarity of this kind of intimacy, this kind of love.
      Sooner would the princess be executed as traitor to the Merkingdom than betray that trust.
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spooner-the-trinity · 3 years
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Kyoko Sakura
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Kyoko Sakura is one of the main protagonists of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, introduced a few episodes into the series to show someone taking the magical girl job far more cynically than the non-mystery shrouded leads had until that point. Not interested in killing witches just to keep them from hurting people, she's more invested in just keeping herself in top form by leaving them around until the optimal point to kill them to keep herself and her soul gem in top shape. This clashes rather fiercely with Sayaka's somewhat less practical but more moral "kill every witch on sight" stance, and the two clash over it early on. While she initially looks down on Sayaka, as time goes on she comes to want to help the less experienced girl as she realizes there is way more wrong with the system than either of them thought, with the handicaps and downsides of their bargain with Kyubey becoming ever more clear. That, and Sayaka begins to undergo a period of strongly regretting the wish she had made, something Kyoko finds she can relate too. As the daughter of a preacher living in poverty, she desperately wanted her father's word to get out and have what they would need for her family to eat. Wishing to Kyubey for help, she got what she wanted, only for it to backfire horribly when she admitted how she did it. Kyoko was decried as going against the faith and using magic to bring people to him, and once his church collapsed ended up killing himself and Kyoko's little sister, leaving her to come back to the horrid sight. Seeing Sayaka regretting her own wish, Kyoko just tried to help her rebound, only to fail and have Sayaka succumb to her mental state and transform into a witch. Kyoko ended up having to put her down at the cost of her own life, but unlike Mami and Sayaka she at least managed to go out on her own terms. Stats​Kyoko is not an especially large character, being about the same height as Pit with a slightly less wide hurtbox. Unfortunately, she's rather frail even for her size, having only 80 weight units, the same as Meta Knight and Zero Suit Samus, so she gets KO'd fairly early. Her jumps are quite good and her gravity is about average, giving her a fairly strong basis for her recovery, and both her air and ground speed are also on the high end. She's in the 12th-16th tie for fastest air speed with Mario, Sonic, and a couple others, while her run speed of 2.35 actually puts her in sixth place overall. She has a wall cling and wall jump, a reasonably low crouch, and a crawl, so on the whole her mobility is very good. While her traction is among the worst in the game, everyone in Ultimate has good enough traction that this isn't really going to have her sliding around. Specials​ Neutral Special - Surging Spear Pointing her spear at the ground at first, Kyoko's spear breaks into segments and begins to wrap in circles around her a short distance away from her body, as she clasps her hands together and focuses. The tip of the spear, now pointed upward forward over her and enlarged to about double its normal size, then smashes into the ground in front of her, dealing 13% and diagonally upwards knockback that KOs at 150%. Kyoko's spear reverts to normal in her hand afterwards with surprisingly low end lag, its parts all just snapping back into place. This has a bit less start lag than the animation might sound like it has, the chain breaking into segments being an almost instantaneous visual, but its still not a fast move and a bit too slow to be worth its startup lag at first. The move covers a pretty big area in front of her due to the enlarged size of the spear point. You can charge this move, as energy flares off the tip, like a flame but a darker red color rather than orange. This also slightly increases the size of the end of the spear over time, eventually about doubling it at full charge, which takes 1.4 seconds. The chain link coils also rise higher into the air, giving the move more vertical range in addition to more horizontal range. The power increases at a consistent rate of 1% every 0.1 seconds, capping out at 27% and being able to kill at about 55%. Given the size of the hitbox and the impressive maximum power this move reaches, its a pretty stellar kill move, but charging 1.4 seconds for it is not something most opponents will allow you to do outside of a shield break situation. The good news is the charge can be cancelled like Giant Punch or Samus' charge shot, but at a bit of a price, you only get to keep half the charge. The half charged version of this move still deals 20%, has nice range, and KOs at about 100%, so its not a bad consolation prize, but it does make the move a bit worse than Giant Punch at the same niche. It does have a few advantages, which we'll go over. The first is that you can actually change the impact point of the spear by pressing forward at any point during the start lag or charge. This will cause the spear to instead lurch forward and slam down about 1.5 battlefield platforms in front of Kyoko, dealing only 0.7x its usual damage and 0.8x the knockback as it launches forward before slamming down. The hitbox where it slams down has the same power as the original move. This version has noticeably more end lag as it takes longer for the spear to retract back to its default state, but the start lag remains the same, giving Kyoko a pseudo-projectile to harass people at a range. There's another layer of pressure to this move if it has half charge or more, as a red shockwave is emitted from the impact point. At half charge, it goes a battlefield platform in each direction from the impact point, traveling at a speed that means the wave will still have the last quarter of its path to cover when Kyoko comes out of lag. Unfortunately the wave only deals 4% and a flinch at half charge, but it adds another layer of pressure to the half-charged version of this attack, as at close range it covers Kyoko's longer range spear attacks, and at long range it will help cover her shorter ranged ones. The red wave goes further at a slightly higher speed with higher charges, though the speed only increases to about 1.2x its base amount at full charge so its not much. The distance, however, is doubled to 2 battlefield platforms in both directions, and the damage and knockback spikes up quite a bit, capping out at 14% and upward knockback that KOs at 140%. This is a pretty scary projectile to have as additional pressure to Kyoko's game at all ranges, and it comes out on top of an already threatening hitbox, but you only get it if you use half charge or better. In the air this move switches to a slightly less flashy version, with the spearhead simply stabbing forward at the end of the charge, either right in front of Kyoko or launching further away depending on if you tilted the control stick forward or not. It deals 2% less than it does on the ground, but due to the slam being less dramatic, the start lag is actually cut noticeably. The half charged version is, even with the slight damage reduction, pretty alarming in this context given you can use it relatively close to the blast zone if you set it up, and that 100% KO percent of the base version is from center stage. Having a decent amount of charge in this move makes Kyoko very scary in the air, given this move comes out considerably faster than Giant Punch in the air rather than slightly slower on the ground. That said, you lose the shockwave and a bit of punch, so there is a tradeoff, and the end lag is actually a bit worse in the aerial version, which adds up to be extremely punishable if you whiff the long range version of this move. In the end, this move serves a couple functions. In the air, its a potentially powerful kill tool that comes out pretty fast, but needs stored charge for you to get much mileage out of. On the ground, it has more power but is less practical to actually hit with, in exchange for creating a projectile if you whiff. The projectile helps a pretty important part of Kyoko's play pattern, however, it allows her to transition from fighting at long range to fighting at short range and vice versa. Given Kyoko is at her best when knocking the opponent back and forth long and short ranges, this is a powerful tool to have wrapped up in just one input. Up Special - Impale Pulling her spear back with red energy forming at the tip, Kyoko's spear breaks into segments once again and launches forward with the tip faintly blazing with the energy. You can angle this move in all eight cardinal directions during the start lag similar to Fire Fox, but the move will default to 45 degrees upward in the air and directly forward on the ground. The spear goes out a similar distance to Fox's recovery, actually, and has quite a bit of start lag. For most of its flight, it deals 9% and pretty underwhelming knockback that doesn't KO until basically irrelevant percents, unless it hits pretty close to a blast zone. At the end of its range, however, the tip of the spear ignites with red energy, and if you hit the opponent with this hitbox, they take 15% and are trapped in a state similar to Corrin's pin. If it hits a ledge, Kyoko will tether to it, so this functions as her primary(and admittedly somewhat underwhelming) recovery move. There are a couple differences, with the big one being that Kyoko doesn't need to pin the opponent against a surface, so it functions a bit closer to a grab hitbox. The amount of time the opponent is impaled for is much less than Corrin's on account of being able to do this in the air, but you'll still have time to use the inputs you have available out of this move. Kyoko has three options out of this move, pressing forward, pressing up, or pressing backwards. As an aside if you do manage to pin an opponent against a surface, this deals an extra 7% to that opponent, which pushes the damage once you factor in the follow up to a pretty astonomical value. Given you need to sweetspot this move that's not especially fast to pull it off, however, its a reasonable payment for the risk involved. The forward option simply has Kyoko pull herself to the opponent, yanking the spear out and dropkicking the opponent once she gets into close range. This deals another 9% and weak horizontal knockback that scales poorly as well, so it serves as a pretty solid combo setup. If Kyoko fired the spear straight upward, she'll kick off to be a bit below the foe and the weak knockback will be vertical, and straight downward she will kick off above the foe and deal weak downward knockback, but the damage will remain the same. The upward version has her flick the chain upwards, sending the foe flying up off the tip of the spear with low vertical knockback that scales poorly, and only deals 6%. What's nice about this, however, is that you can use it to set up Kyoko's other long range attacks to follow up on her pressure at an extremely safe distance. These moves both remain the same on the ground and in the air. The backward option is different depending on if you're on the ground or in the air. If you're on the ground, Kyoko will swing the chain spear overhead and smash the opponent into the ground on the other side of her, dealing 13% and initially weak knockback that scales quite well, killing at about 135%. An important thing to note about this is it will send the opponent flying at a point of impact far behind Kyoko, This actually makes the KO power even better than you'd expect... provided the opponent lands on solid ground. If they just reach the end point of the slam and are in the air, they instead get a pretty weak spike that won't kill until 150% and take 7%, but that still sets up a pretty solid edgeguarding scenario. While this option is definitely the most powerful of the three chain spear tools, keep in mind its also not very easy to follow up on unless you've set up a few specific situations, such as an edgeguard or using the Down Special which we're about to get to. Both Kyoko holding the spear and the opponent will continue to fall at their normal fall speeds in the air. If one falls faster than the other they can't go past the end of the chain spear, which functions as a bit of a tether, and as such will become horizontally closer to Kyoko as the spear bends downward to keep them impaled. If Kyoko or the opponent end up the full spear length below the other, they'll just dangle there. Kyoko will straighten out the spear in front of her before performing a throw, so it'll always be performed from her height, so this stuff is only really relevant in some pretty big corner cases. Given the impale will not hold for very long, pulling off suicide kills with this is pretty difficult. The back throw does allow for some potential gimps, however, and the forward variation can also lead into a gimping attempt off stage, although considering this move is not a particularly great recovery that could easily backfire. Your Side B can compensate for that a little, but not enough that going off stage is great for Kyoko. As a final note, this move has pretty bad end lag if you whiff, but Kyoko resets the spear back to its normal state pretty quickly if you do hit. Down Special - Barrier With a pulse of red energy from her soul gem and a wave of her hand, Kyoko manifests a wall made of red chains, each link a red diamond-shaped object. This wall is about 1.4x Ganondorf's height, and appears a single stage builder unit in front of Kyoko. If you're looking for a durable construct to protect you from projectiles, prepare to be a bit disappointed. The wall will only take two hits to destroy from attacks that deal less than 8%, and one hit from an attack that deals more than that. The rare non-flinching move that also happens to deal less than 5% will take three hits to destroy it, so Fox won't have quite as much luck breaking through, and its not terribly hard to set up given the lag is average. If the first two below 5% and no flinching hits are dealt to the wall, that will allow it to be destroyed by a subsequent hit of less than 8%. That said, you're not really using this as a defensive tool, but it has its niche uses as one to help Kyoko play her longer ranged game if you want to go down that road. Kyoko's spear goes through the wall without damaging it, so it can serve as a sort of "armor" move to defend her while abusing the sheer amount of range her spear has, making life a bit difficult for opponents destroying the wall. The thing is most characters have an aerial or tilt that can smash through it in one hit, and if they do the attack will still go through and hit Kyoko potentially. There is a bit of impact stall upon destroying the wall, however, and the attack's damage is reduced by 8% with a corresponding knockback reduction from the damage lost. This loss of power can sometimes result in an attack being punishable on hit when it otherwise wouldn't be due to just flinching Kyoko rather than doing something more effectual, and combined with the impact stall it allows you to sometimes punish a foe in mid attack or on hit. The real meat of this move is what happens if you hit the opponent and they get knocked flying into a wall. They will be caught on the barrier, causing some of the bindings holding it together to snap but enough will stay around to hold the opponent in place. They will be trapped in hitstun on the barrier for as long as they would take knockback, effectively turning high knockback moves that hit foes into the wall into ridiculous combo setups. If you hit them with something that might KO them but it got intercepted by the wall, don't worry, this is the perfect time to charge a Neutral Special or Smash Attack to get the kill anyway. With less knockback than that it can still prove incredibly useful for combo setups, allowing you to link what would normally be combo finishers into a longer string or turn a KO move into a stellar combo starter. Flinching and weak knockback will not catch the opponent against the wall, rather they will bounce off it and deal the equivalent of 1 of the 2 hits of less than 8% required to destroy it. The wall will crumple completely after the opponent's hitstun ends or Kyoko lands another hit on them, using it up. If Kyoko is hit into this wall, rather than the opponent, it will crumple to catch her fall, reducing the knockback to almost none no matter how much it was initially an immensely reducing the hitstun. This can save Kyoko from death situationally, or interrupt an opponent's combo as Kyoko catches herself out of her hitstun just well enough to reverse it on the opponent. Kyoko can also tether to this wall with her Up Special, as unlike the rest of your spear attacks it will actually hook onto the wall. This does hurt your ability to latch onto foes behind it unfortunately, but it can allow you to get yourself to a nice aerial vantage point with your back to a wall that will cushion you against combos and KO moves. You can also wall cling on this wall, which is a niche but useful ability for amplifying Kyoko's air game. The wall will fade after 12 seconds, giving you a decent amount of time to work with it in all its varied uses. It serves as a powerful reward for Kyoko winning control of the stage, as its a great thing to be backed against in disadvantage state, and a great thing to pressure the opponent into at an advantage state, and is best set up when you've gotten a large amount of space from the opponent. Your Neutral and Up Special give Kyoko powerful repositioning and zoning options to make setting this wall up at an ideal point for you at whatever stage of the game you're in a reality. Side Special - Chain Dance Kyoko swings her spear up in a small arc in front of her, a look of concentration on her face. This deals only 2%, and comes out on Frame 10, one frame slower than Marth's dancing blade, but the sweetspot at the pointy part of the spear deals 3.5% and increased hitstun. This has better range than Dancing Blade's first hit, albeit by a small margin, and I keep comparing them because this move works a lot like dancing blade, with three subsequent follow ups that can each be angled in three directions. Note that the down option comes out a bit slower than the other two after this first hit, and as such it will not true combo out of hitting with the spear's shaft. If you hit with the tip, however, all three hits will true combo, which is a very useful property to have. The forward hit has Kyoko rapidly stab forward twice, once at a slightly downward angle and the second time at a slightly upward angle, dealing 2 hits of 1% and then 3%. This launches the foe forward with moderately strong base knockback that scales extremely slowly, only killing around 300%. This poor scaling is actually pretty important, because subsequent hits of Chain Dance actually transition into much longer range options that can be landed at foes on a wider range of percentages because of this. It also sets the opponent up nicely for the long range version of Neutral Special, not true comboing into it but because Kyoko has a couple options to follow up at that range including other hits of Chain Dance, a charged Neutral Special becomes a very scary alternative option for Kyoko to use out of this. Used in relatively close proximity to a wall the fact that the base knockback is this good also makes it an excellent combo tool, given the foe will be stuck in hitstun for a fair bit longer than most moves would leave them at a low percent. The upward version has Kyoko sweep the spear over her head in an arc from front to back, dealing 3% at the shaft and 4% at the tip of the spear. This move hits in enough of an arc in front of her it will catch people hit by the first strike. If you hit with the shaft of the first hit, you'll hit with it on the second hit, and the same will be true for the tipper. The shaft only deals weak upward knockback that pops the opponent up into the air a bit too high for melee ranged combos, but not far enough for Kyoko's long ranged options. It gets the foe out of your face for a moment at least, but you're not aiming to hit with it. The tipper hit will send the opponent a fair bit further upward, dealing similar knockback to the forward second hit but with slightly decreased base knockback, and at a slight forward angle away from directly above you. Aside from being a good range to put the opponent at for Kyoko's longer ranged upwards options, it also is a good range to play off by jumping up near the top of your wall with your wall cling, as that provides you a fallback point if you want to go into an aerial pursuit of an opponent. The downward hit has Kyoko swing the spear down and stab it into the ground in front of her at an angle, dealing 6% and noticeably increased hitstun. This is a stellar move for setting up melee combos, probably Kyoko's actual best combo starter, but you won't be able to confirm it out of Side Special unless you specifically hit with the tipper. That, being able to start a close range combo is a useful thing to have out of this move, as the long range combo options have a lot greater possibility of failure due to the percentages of the opponents being off from what you need. This is a good place to stop your chain dance if you're not in the right situation for some of the stronger payoffs, and for what its worth you can land this out of a sourspot first hit if the opponent reads you wrong. Once the third hit starts, Kyoko's expression will change from a concentrated one to a visible grin, pleased to have gotten to such an advantage. Her expression will sour greatly if she misses any of these hits however, and she'll audibly grunt in frustration. The third forward hit is where this move gets a little crazier, as Kyoko's spear extends outward, aimed directly at an opponent struck by the previous hit. If the opponent is "pinned" at close range by the downward version, it will just extend to the floor through the opponent for this hitbox. If an opponent was not struck by the previous hit it will just extend forward, as you'd probably expect. It can extend out up to 1.3 battlefield platforms, with the tip of the spear flaring up with red energy around it after its traveled a platform. This deals 5%-12% and knockback that KOs at 250%-160%, growing more powerful the further away from you the opponent was knocked. This is a good combo starter out of the downward variation if you want a foe a bit further forward rather than right at the tipper range of Side Special for subsequent hits, as the end lag of this hit is low if canceled out of at close range. At longer range, the ending lag gets worse and worse, and while its usually a true combo out of the up or forward hits due to its homing properties and fairly fast start lag, the gravity or percentage of the opponent will sometimes mess up the ability to true combo this, and if you whiff its pretty bad. Primarily at high percentages you'll want to be careful of using this as that's when the combos are more liable to not work. That said, given the foe will already be spaced away even before this hit this can get you a massive amount of distance from them to allow you to reset stage positioning. Sometimes in the air, this can also work as a pretty good gimp, as the way the knockback of the 2nd and 3rd hits will stack up in the air becomes a lot scarier closer to a blast zone, and you have to worry a bit less about needing the opponent at a percent where the true combo is less likely. Its a solid default third hit that always combos adequately out of the any of the first 3 hits due to its homing properties, and is situationally very powerful. The third upward hit is actually a similar to the second upward hit, with Kyoko swinging her spear in an upward arc from front to back a second time most of the time. As a small caveat, she'll swing from back to front if she uses this out of the second upward hit instead for the purpose of making the animation a little neater due to where her spear ends after the second hit. The thing that makes this a bit more interesting is Kyoko will hop backwards a bit during this move, and also extend the spear out so that at the apex of the swing the spear reaches up 1.25 Ganondorf heights above her head. This spaces Kyoko back a bit for the rest of the dancing blade combo or any follow ups she commits too after this move. The spear deals 5% and knockback that pops opponents up lightly on the handle, or 8% at the tip with knockback that scales pretty hard, killing at 130% but being not knocking the foe much further at low percents. The tipper hit will combo out of the tipper hit of the second upwards hit, while the second forward hit will just whiff and the second downward hit will hit with the sourspot. This is the least conditional way to kill foes out of your Side Special, only requiring you hit with the spear tip on the first hit, but it doesn't kill especially early and it still requires you to sweetspot it. That said, if you go down second up third, it sets up pretty nicely if you just want to try and string into your aerials out of this. Lastly, if there's a wall in front of you, the forward second hit actually will set up for this, sounds pretty situational and like not the best use of a wall, but its worth keeping in mind for the fourth upward hit. The third downward hit has Kyoko stab forward with her spear three times rapidly along the ground, each time increasing the length of the spear. This deals 2 hits of 1.5% at the handle and 2% at the tip, followed by a third of 3% at the handle and 6% at the tip. The first two hits don't have their knockback depend that much on the tip vs handle hitboxes, each having enough knockback to push the opponent forward about 0.45 Battlefield platforms, which is a tiny bit more than the spear extends each time (0.4 battlefield platforms). The tip of the spear's size is exaggerated a bit more with each successive stab, so you won't accidentally knock the foe out of your range with this with the tipper hitbox, but it gives you a small portion of the handle hitbox that will actually chain successfully into the next tipper hitboxes of the second/third hits. The handle third hit deals low mostly horizontal knockback that doesn't amount to much other than spacing the foe a bit further away from Kyoko, but the tipper hit actually deals greatly heightened hitstun. This unfortunately does not set up into your fourth hits especially well due to their weird hitboxes, but what it can let you do is set up your Up Special or Neutral Special. Its not a true combo, but the window the foe has to get out of the way is extremely small, giving Kyoko the chance to mix it up with a few of her other options to basically always get an advantage out of this, and Up Special combined with this move allows you to switch around positions on the stage exceptionally well provided you got the tipper on the first strike to go into the down hit and then this. Neutral Special, instead, provides pressure even if the foe is missed by the spear itself and kills pretty early provided its charged, and you can fake out the foe's dodges by further charging it. The forward hit can sometimes chain into it via a wall too, at a slightly closer range than the Up Tilt's sweetspot, so it gives a different option for if you used the forward second hit into a wall. As a final note this shield pokes foes really easily, always doing so by the third hit and easily doing so on the first or second hit if the foe has taken even chip shield damage, so this is a very useful move to go into against a blocking foe. For the fourth and final hit, Kyoko's spear starts breaks into chain link segments out of the third hit as she lashes it forward in a slight arc in front of her, the ground shaking slightly from the impact if it hits the ground as this final hit covers a huge range of 1.65 battlefield platforms. This is unfortunately too laggy to true combo out of anything, barring the third down hit's sweetspot, which will always hit with the sourspot of this hitbox. That said, this is the one sourspot in this move with actual power behind it, dealing 6% and diagonal knockback that KOs at 175% which isn't terribly impressive but if you consider the move's range and ability to be used in the air its an acceptable result. If you hit with the sweetspot spearhead at the end of the move, you'll instead get 11% and a hitbox that kills at 95%, but that's not happening unless you have a very well positioned wall. That said, the spearhead is at least big enough to at least give you a bit of wiggle room on the exact positioning, exaggerated slightly on this version of the move. At specific percentages and ranges, you can actually land this move out of the third forward hit, which due to its variable power you won't get entirely consistent results for but chaining from second forward to third forward to fourth forward will specifically give the foe a very small window to dodge the fourth hit at 85%-110%, which makes this something the foe very much has to fear in those ranges. While they can dodge it, predicting their attempt too can allow Kyoko to go for something else. As an aside, while shielding this move is a good option to avoid it if you still end up on the ground after the first 3 hits, but if they're hit by the sweetspot that actually deals an absurd amount of shield damage and quite a bit of shield stun, almost enough to break it in one hit, so be careful reacting like that. The fourth hit's upward variant instead has the spear break into segments and then Kyoko has it lash upwards at a 20 degree diagonal forward away from directly above her, dealing 5% on the body of the spear and weakly bumping the foe upward again. This is a fair bit faster than the forward fourth hit, actually true comboing out of the upward third hit, except for the part that due to only covering a specific angle that will stop working after about 50%. The good news is the sweetspot here is the strongest KO move Kyoko has here, dealing 14% and knockkback that KOs at 60%. This is insanely good, but you're only going to pull it off if you specifically second hit a foe into a wall with the forward version, third hit the foe upward at maximum range, and then they have to be between 60% and 85%. This is a really specific hit to ever land, but on the other hand you're killing the opponent in the 45%-70% range where you're factoring in the damage before this move out of a frame 10 move, and Kyoko's gameplan is all about positioning yourself well in relation to the opponent and your wall. So while situational, this is your big reward, and the nice thing is as mentioned there are a lot of other semi-specific ranges where certain combinations of Side Special hits will leave a pretty solid end result with a wall, so if you don't get the exact range for this right you still have plenty of other potential success cases. The final version of the fourth hit has Kyoko's chain spear get tossed forward in a similar animation to the forward hit at first, before the tip curls backwards and then the chain segments further extend out into a vortex of whirling chain links, turning into a red blur at the end of the spear that covers an area 0.5 battlefield platforms wide, starting a distance 1.3 battlefield platforms from Kyoko. This has much better coverage than the forward version but suffers from similar, albeit not identical lag, slightly faster to allow it to do wall combos slightly easier. The chain slamming down before the tornado of spear parts deals 4% and considerably weaker diagonal knockback than the forward variant, but the whirlwind deals rapid hits of 1% that add up to 12% and a final hit that deals knockback TOWARD Kyoko that KOs at 170%. Like the forward variant, its not a true combo out of anything Side Special does, but what it does do is catch out non-perfectly timed dodges with its somewhat longer duration and as such encourage the foe to shield, while also having slightly different timing than the forward variation to further make avoiding one move or the other a pain. This gives Kyoko a pretty powerful 50/50 tool, one she can potentially mix up her other long range options to remind foes how terrifying she is at this range. The most exciting thing about this move is the result. Knocking the foe back toward you opens all kinds of possibilities, like getting a foe stuck in a wall behind you to pull off a flashy and exotic finisher. Or you bring them back in and because they failed to avoid this move, you get to go for yet another Side Special chain, or just a combo of standards and aerials. Even your smashes and Neutral Special, or slightly charged Neutral Special, can be landed out of this sometimes. This is an exceptional reward if you aren't at the KO range you're looking for, but you do to have to time it right and not just get shielded, as this move does pretty poorly on shields. At least you're far away when it ends. Also if you whiff this one, the extra duration means the potential punishment you could eat will be a lot worse. Standards​ Jab - Red Combo Kyoko starts off her jab combo with a low kick with her left leg, hitting foes surprisingly close to the ground and dealing 2%. It comes out quite fast, on Frame 3, but has the downside of having shorter range than her spear moves. It is nice that it hits low though, partially because it can shield poke if the foe's shield has taken a decent amount of chip damage and partially because Kyoko's actually a bit lacking for close range low hitting options, so this at least helps. While this has enough end lag if you cancel out of it you'll just be in frame neutral, obviously what you'll want to do is instead go into the second hit. Kyoko's second hit has her rapidly stab up and down, in a manner visually similar to Captain Falcon's Jab albeit carrying a spear. She only does it for a short burst though, dealing 8 hits of 0.5% that add up to 4%, pushing the foe back slightly while she does so. Like the first hit, if you cancel out of this here you won't be at enough of a frame advantage to true combo into anything, but you will be at a slight one, and the foe will be at tipper range of your spear in front of you, so you'll definently be at an advantage. The final hit has Kyoko slide slightly forward and stab as she goes, the spear pointed slightly upward as she does so. This does 5% on the body and 6% at the tip of the spear, and sends the foe diagonally mostly forward with knockback that kills at 170%. You won't really get combos off this most of the time, like the other Jab hits, but it will space the foe decently far away and given how fast the first hit of Jab comes out, this is not a bad end result, and if landing actual kill moves has been going poorly enough this one can kill at the ledge in an emergency. One thing that's pretty nice here is this is one of the best ways to use a wall, because the knockback is high enough the foe will get stuck in it for quite a bit, actually allowing you to combo extend into quite a few things out of a move that comes out incredibly fast, at higher percents even allowing for you to get a kill confirm. So this is one of the best ways to capitalize on a wall's existence in your set, even if it doesn't link into your other moves terribly well otherwise. Forward Tilt - Stab/Reel Kyoko stabs forward in front of her with her spear in a very basic melee move, having good reach for a melee move and also coming out quite fast. She leans forward just a bit in this move to give it a bit more reach, but this is at the cost of ending lag that makes it worse for combos than you'd hope. The hilt of the spear deals 5% and weak horizontal knockback that will never kill, but starts at a slightly more respectable base value than you'd expect to make it not horrible for putting the foe at spear point range. The spear point deals 9% and better knockback, which will space the opponent to about a battlefield platform-1.5 battlefield platforms in the 10%-70% range before scaling to the point its not as good at putting the foe in Kyoko's long range pressure zone. It overall serves the purpose of being a great spacer, but unfortunately doesn't really set up a lot of combos. It at least sets up nicely for Nair/Jab with the sourspot.
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While this is good as your basic spacer, there's a trick to it that gives it just a bit more versatility than just that. This move has a follow up where Kyoko actually has the spear break into segments and launch forward from where the move ends, but the spear point seems to just go around foes as it travels through the background instead. No, we're not about to pull some MYM11-12 level garbage here though, this is actually just so the spear can instead go around opponents and, if they're in range of the hitbox, wrap around their body and reel them toward Kyoko. This deals another 5% and pulls the opponent about 0.35 battlefield platforms of width toward Kyoko, and leaves her at a slight frame advantage. This looks like a grab but it won't go through shields, even if the way the foe is pulled toward Kyoko doesn't quite look like normal knockback with the chain wrapped around their body. It comes out fairly quickly after the base attack, and actually leaves Kyoko with a bit less end lag than the other version as the spear is already retracting back to its default state at the end of the move and Kyoko has reset her footing. This allows this move to serve double duty as a spacer. The second hit comes out fast enough that while its a little on the predictable side, you can hit foes with it even if you didn't hit the first hit, and the first hit will combo into it until around 40% at the tip and at any range on the hilt. Of course, comboing into this on the hilt will frequently end up with the foe right back in your face, which you don't really want, but Kyoko is at least at a slight frame advantage. More importantly, this move allows you to just mess with the foe's spacing in a bit smaller increments, which if you're aiming for specific positioning in regards to a wall is incredibly useful. Its also not a bad way to transfer long range pressure into some closer range brawling, being faster and more convenient for this purpose than the fourth down hit of the Side Special. Its a lot less powerful, though, and because you do have to go through the first hit to get to this move the lag will add up to the point foes can definently get out of the way of this if you're trying to reel them in from afar. While the end result is nothing to write home about, this does catch out dodges sometimes at close range, which is a handy thing to have access to. Up Tilt - Overhead Strike Kyoko swings the spear up over her head, stopping a bit behind her. She then pulls her spear back to her side for the ending lag in a very quick motion, actually making this move quite fast on both ends. The tip of the spear deals 9% and weak upward knockback that eventually scales to kill at 235%, while the handle deals 6% and diagonal upward knockback that actually starts a bit higher than the upward hit but scales worse to not kill at any remotely relevant percent. This move comes out fast and ends fast, and serves as one of Kyoko's best grounded close range options for the most part. However, one thing worth looking out for is that its backwards coverage is pretty lackluster, so while it can hit a foe from behind Kyoko they can weave around it pretty easily. This means Kyoko needs to be careful of cross-ups, though you can still certainly land this move if the foe is behind you if you space yourself at the right angle from them, and for what its worth your Nair is a very good coverage tool. The combo applications of this move depend on where you hit with it. The sourspot basically only combos into Nair with any consistency, but it will do so up until around 85% on middleweights, so if nothing else it has a pretty safe follow up. The upwards hitbox is much better, comboing into itself or Side Special at very low percents, and can also link into Up Smash at slightly higher percents and Uair/Nair for a bit longer than that. The problem is this move will lose its combo utility around 50% with the sweetspot, rather just spacing the foe upward, but it still serves its purpose as a juggler. Either hit will at least do decent work as a combo starter though, and it serves as a good tool to throw out in neutral or even when you're on the back foot if the foe mistimes something due to its general speed and safety. Down Tilt - Low Lash Kyoko's spear quickly separates into segments as she sweeps it low along the ground in front of her. This is an animation a bit similar to Ike's Down Tilt, but given much greater reach by the segmented spear. This is pretty quick to come out and has pretty enormous range for its speed, reaching nearly a full battlefield platform forward. The trade off for this is that the end lag isn't great, and the power is generally pretty weak. If you hit with the chain segments, all you're doing is popping the foe up for 5% and weak upward knockback that is barely above a flinch until about 40%. This makes this move actually pretty garbage at most ranges at low percentages, where the foe will actually be at a minor frame advantage on hit. Once the knockback has scaled a bit this stops being as much of a problem, as it will put Kyoko into a frame neutral or advantageous position that sort of sets up aerial combos at lower percents than you'd expect, though the true combos you get out of this move are basically non-existent barring some corner cases. Its not exciting to hit with this sourspot, but at percentages in the 70%+ range it leads into your aerial game pretty well if the opponent doesn't pull off some good predictions. Up very close to Kyoko, there's actually a slightly better hitbox that deals 8% and diagonal knockback that while not comboing into anything or KOing at any relevant time, is safe on hit at all percentages. The fact that it will never combo means the short range in front of Kyoko where this hitbox hits is actually a bit worse than the one slightly further out. That said, you'll appreciate having the safety when the foe is at low percents that you otherwise would not have, even if the safe range has about the same reach as Mario's FTilt. The spear tip itself is actually a pretty decent hitbox, however, dealing 11% and knocking opponents toward Kyoko with low to the ground knockback that KOs at 255%. This is not nearly as powerful of a "knock the foe to you" option as the Side Special's fourth downward hit, partially because of the weaker knockback and partially because of the somewhat annoying ending lag that makes going into laggier options less practical. Still, it can convert into Forward Tilt/Up Tilt easily, as well as your Nair/Side Special/Neutral Special sometimes and at very specific percentages your Up Smash. The slightly shorter range of the tip compared to Kyoko's other long ranged pressure tools is kind of unfortunate, but what this can do is catch out foes rolling closer from Kyoko's long ranged pressure, and provides a fast option to overload the foe's dodges alongside a Neutral Special shockwave for the longer ranged NSpecial. It also gives another place in Kyoko's range that the foe will need to be careful about. This is a pretty good move to poke a foe with from behind a wall, one of Kyoko's best options in that regard. The tips hitbox can knock a foe into a wall, and while the knockback is not good enough for it to lead to a great use of the wall at lower percents it does slightly expand your combo options, and can lead into a kill confirm pretty easily at around 80%-100% depending on the foe's position relative to the wall. Also if you hit with the sourspot, its a bit better in this situation, as the foe's offensive options are messed up by the wall taking one or two of their hits and as such leaves their tools to punish Kyoko or retake control in the air a fair bit more limited. This isn't as powerful as some things you can do with the wall, but it shores up a lot of this move's weaknesses. As a final note, this moves usefulness against shields varies pretty wildly. If the foe has a full health shield, you're going into a worryingly large frame disadvantage if you use this on one, but if they've taken even chip damage they will get shield poked. This means this move's viability to just throw out depends on if the foe has already taken shield damage, something to keep in mind as Kyoko's fast options go. Dash Attack - Serpentine Spear Kyoko lunges up into the air, holding her spear out below her as she travels in an arc that goes approximately 1.25 battlefield platforms. For the first half of the arc, the spear breaks into its segmented form as the spearhead increases in size, as Kyoko grounds herself on the head of it. The spear then smashes back down in the back half of the arc with Kyoko standing on it, a flare of red energy surrounding her as it impacts the ground. Kyoko goes up about a Ganondorf height into the air at the move's peak, and the spearhead is a bit bigger than Wario when it smashes into the ground. This is one the whole a pretty laggy dash attack, taking a bit for Kyoko to complete her arc through the air and having terrible end lag as she has to step off the spear and revert it to its normal size and shape. While Kyoko's going upwards with the spear underneath her, Kyoko's body will lightly knock the opponent forward for 4% and knockback that scales very poorly. The spear is a bit better, dealing 7% and dealing upwards diagonal knockback that kills at 250%. These are not hitboxes you want to hit with, because Kyoko will not be canceled out of her dash attack when she hits with them, which means Kyoko will have to go through all the awful ending lag while the foe recovers from their knockback. If you hit with the spear, at least, you're likely to get punished a lot less badly than if you whiffed entirely, and at high percents you might just be completely fine as it'll start sending the foe a good distance away. That said, if Kyoko's body collides with the foe or this move gets outright dodged, you're definently going to take a big hit. Once Kyoko is actually riding atop the spear, this move gets a lot better, as the power is buffed to dealing 13% and mostly horizontal knockback that KOs at 145%. This knockback has a slightly downward angle to it, which makes it a lot more impressive near a ledge. This is the start of the portion of the move you want to hit with, and its a perfectly acceptable consolation prize if you don't hit with the impact point. Of note, if you have a foe's back to a wall, this gets a lot scarier, as if you have the ranges right you can have both this hit and the final, more powerful hit collide to pile on an additional 13% and get the most powerful hitbox of this move out of the flight path, which as we're going to get to is a pretty impressive reward. You still have to be very careful about throwing this move out, and it'll be a bit predictable that you want too if the wall is there at a foe's back, but the threat being there is absolutely noteworthy. When Kyoko finally lands on the ground, the sides of the spearhead deal 16% and mostly vertical knockback that KOs at 120%. This is pretty good, but what you really want to hit with is the middle of the spearhead, which will deal a terrifying 23% with purely vertical knockback that kills at 60%, obscenely powerful for a dash attack. That said, this only works at near the exact limits of this move's range, so compared to other slow power dash attacks this one is even harder to pull off. With all that said, Kyoko has a number of ways to pressure foes at long range, with the best one to lead into this move being Neutral Special. Putting the foe off balance with shockwaves on the ground makes avoiding this attack a fair bit harder, and the foe really has to be smart to avoid it, because this move has some notable anti-defense properties. It absolutely obliterates shields on the sweetspot, breaking them outright if they've taken more than a sliver of damage, and the flame around the hitbox indicates it lingering for a few frames to make dodging it surprisingly difficult, especially if the foe's dodges are decayed from other long ranged pressure. If Kyoko goes off stage with this move, the result is risky yet powerful. Kyoko will basically activate the final hitbox at the same height she'd collide with the ground, except the sweetspot instead becomes a spiking hitbox comparable to Ganondorf's Dair, only actually a little bit stronger. This is obviously absurd, but landing this hitbox is vastly much predictable than said Dair, and it sends Kyoko falling down 2 Ganondorf heights before she exits her fall, reverting her spear back to normal as she gets off it. This can frequently lead into a gimp in the foe's favor if they get out of the way of this attack, but it is worth mentioning the area covered by it is very big and gives Kyoko's already strong ability to ledge guard an even scarier tool than usual. One nice thing about this move is that in the second half of it with Kyoko riding on her spear, the spearhead is capable of just blocking and powering through incoming attacks. This gives Kyoko the ability to power through projectiles and not eat a fast move while trying to land this attack, meaning once she's reached the halfway point of her travel path, the best way to punish her is just to not get hit, as knocking her out of this move requires you to specifically attack around the spearhead. While the ability to pseudo counter with this by powering through a hitbox will not come up that often, sometimes you will cut through an opponent's aerial attack and send them flying backwards, often putting them at a good offstage angle or sometimes even smacking them into the wall for the ideal hitbox. This adds a secondary purpose to this move beyond just going in off long range pressure in the hopes of pulling off a kill on a good read. All in all this is a very powerful move, but it is a bit miserable at being a dash attack against close ranged opponents, so be aware of that. Smashes​ Forward Smash - Red Vortex Spear
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Breaking her spear into segments, Kyoko spins it around herself in a sizeable vortex, covering both sides of her about a Wario width away from Kyoko on each side. It takes a bit for the spear to form into a large enough amount of segments to form the vortex, with this hitbox coming out on Frame 14 and lasting until Frame 28, at which point Kyoko flings the spearhead forward out of the vortex as the actual "forward smash" part of this attack. There is some pretty high end lag as Kyoko needs to return her spear to its default state, and between that and the duration/start lag this move is on the whole quite punishable. It makes up for this by the huge range on the forward hit, going forth 1.3 battlefield platforms, which is the kind of reach that would make the Belmonts envious. Given the move has an FAF of 85 frames though, it better be making up for it in some other departments, and I assure you this move definitely does. The first thing worth mentioning is the knockback dealt by the vortex, which universally sends opponents forward a set distance forward while dealing 9%-12%. This even includes if you catch foes with the back of this hitbox, offering some rare utility for a Forward Smash in that it actually catches out rolling foes really nicely. The set distance forward is a little over a battlefield platform width, which is the range at which Kyoko's long range moves come into play nicely, and it also means the first hit will line up with the second one rather nicely! The second hit deals 17%-24% while the spear is flying out and 20%-28% at the tip of the range, killing at 100%-65% for most of the hitbox while the tip of the range kills at 80%-45%. The first hit will usually not combo into the sweetspot unless the foe is right at the tip of the range, on top of another factor. You see, the foe will be out of hitstun if this move hits when it first comes out on Frame 14 by the time the spear comes rocketing after them, giving the foe a chance to shield or dodge. The move obviously takes a pretty hefty chunk out of the opponent's shield, and despite the move's bad ending lag a dodge will put the opponent in a position where Kyoko is actually at a bit of an advantage due to the combination of her range and the foe being in their dodge while she's going through the end lag. This leaves the foe with a window to react and only take the weaker hit if they get hit by it, but its not a bad place for Kyoko to be considering she does quite like being able to keep up long range pressure like this. You basically are transitioning from short range combat to long range combat in a single move here. There's a bit of a trick here too, if you want to link the first hit into the second one a bit more easily. Kyoko can actually start charging the FSmash again by holding the input before she would throw the spear out forward, pausing her spin as she does so. The power of the second hit is actually affected by the charge of the first hit, so if its fully charged this is only useful for delaying the attack, but you can actually use this to add a bit more charge to the move mid attack in some situations, which lets it serve as an even scarier KO move. More importantly, given the foe is in a very tight situation in terms of dodging this attack, charging the second hit can screw with the opponent's timing, making linking the first and second hits a bit easier. This move is at its best, however, when its used to punish rolls or approaches. You see, you aren't always going to hit the foe on Frame 14, if they only come into contact with the hitbox at say, Frame 19 or so, they will straight up get comboed into the second hit without question. If the foe is rolling toward Kyoko to get through her ranged pressure or to get behind her, you can turn their invulnerability frames against them by hitting them with this powerful two part combo that they suddenly have no ability to avoid, which is just an exceptionally powerful punish. Its also a nice way to switch from close range to ranged pressure, not as versatile as Side Special in that regard but serving as a decently powerful alternative that discourages rolls nicely, and sometimes works better as a KO move. As a final note, Kyoko is usually at her best trying to hit a foe at melee range or at a specific, a bit over a battlefield platform distance in front of her. While its too slow to be great at it, this is at least capable of covering the space that is normally a pseudo "blind spot" for Kyoko by hitting effectively at basically all ranges in one move. Up Smash - Spear Vault In a rather swift motion, Kyoko stabs up directly above her head with her spear, in a move that animates a bit similarly to Marth's Up Smash, but Kyoko spends a bit less time pulling her spear back to stab it upwards, giving the move a bit less force behind it but also a faster startup time. Coming out at frame 9, this stab deals 9%-13% on the hilt of the spear and upwards knockback that only KOs at around 220%-160%, and 15%-21% at the tip with upward knockback that KOs at 130%-85%. Given how fast it comes out, this can be a nice way to end a stock out of nowhere at higher percents with the tip hit, but unfortunately the handle sourspot only has the kind of power you'd expect of a tilt.
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This move still has reasonably long ending lag and poor coverage, only hitting straight above Kyoko and only having an especially good hitbox at a fairly specific range above her, so its fast KO move properties are hindered by a those downsides. With that said, its a better move than you might at first think, because it has a fairly useful follow up. If you press the input a second time, Kyoko will jump up and bring her spear from above her into the ground, in a hitbox that deals 8%-12% and weak diagonal knockback that only kills at 275%-200% on the hilt and 11%-15% and diagonal knockback that kills at 200%-130% at the tip. This leaves Kyoko with her spear planted in the ground with her standing atop it, after which she will vault off it in one of three directions, depending on how this move was angled. This follow up combos out of the hilt hitbox at very low percentages and comes out reasonably fast, mitigating the move's ending lag problem to a degree, but because of the inherent mobility associated with the follow up that we're about to get to, its a slightly awkward option to just throw out every time you use Up Smash. If you angle up, Kyoko will just leap off a Ganondorf height into the air from her point with her spear planted below her on the ground, effectively ending a Ganondorf height above the tip of where the first Up Smash hitbox would end. This can allow you to pursue foes high up from the sweetspot hit to make it a bit more useful at lower percents, and given Kyoko keeps her other jumps after doing this you can actually get a metric ton of vertical height with this move, allowing for a few decent setups involing Nair and Up Special that can lead into a kill with Uair at surprisingly early percentages. While its not the most used direction in this regard, Kyoko can also situationally take advantage of having a lot of distance above the opponent, walling them against the ground with Nair or taking advantage of using Dair/Up Special from above. The other situational options out of this are if you tilt forward and backward as well as upward, which will cause Kyoko to vault forward at an accelerated speed well beyond her normal max air speed in those directions(about 1.35x faster but rapidly decreasing to her usual maximum). Vaulting backwards sets up Fair out of this and vaulting forward sets up Bair, and it can improve the viability of Nair as a combo move(we'll get to Nair soon I promise, its pretty important) just by virtue of Kyoko continuing to move in that direction at a high speed. In general this lets you weave around platforms and your wall immediately after throwing out two fast hitboxes, and combined with the fact that Kyoko wants a pretty specific kind of spacing the burst mobility this provides can really help with optimizing your positioning in regards to the opponent. With all that said, the fact that Kyoko will get launched off in one of these directions is a bit awkward if you don't want to respace yourself, in which case its better to just take the end lag, but that may not be a very safe option if the first hit whiffed. Down Smash - Blade and Chain Breaking her spear into segments, Kyoko begins spinning it around herself like a ball and chain, extending out a massive 1.1 battlefield platforms on each side of her. She will spin the chain around her three times before finally slamming it down in front of her, the spearhead enlarging a bit as she does so. The spearhead is slammed down 0.8 battlefield platforms ahead of Kyoko. This move has notable but not huge starting lag, moderate duration, and massive ending lag, so if you're throwing this move out it is very, very important to know what you're getting yourself into. Considering this is a larger area of coverage than a Belmont FSmash on both sides of you, the commitment is absolutely warranted. The three spins of the spear deal 4%-6% at the tip and 2%-3% at the chain, with the tip of the spear dealing knockback that sends the foe slightly inward, to exactly the point on the ground the spear would impact with set knockback. The chain will deal a flinching hit that will just lock the opponent in place for subsequent chain hits. This means if you hit the foe with either the edge of the forward range or at exactly the point the spear would slam down, you will definently land the final spear slam hitbox. The spear slam deal 16%-22% and diagonal mostly upward knockback that KOs at 90%-55%, serving as an excellent finisher. Because this move does not come out especially slowly with the worst part of the lag being the ending of the move, this makes it a reasonable long range finisher if you hit with the tip. What makes this move a bit more than just a long range finisher, something the FSmash generally does better, is two things. One, it comes out a lot faster than the more powerful hit of Forward Smash, so if you're not landing the initial sourspot of that move this is a fair bit easier to land, especially since the lag is now a lot closer to moves like Up Special or Neutral Special, Kyoko's other long range pressure tools. Its easier to land off a read, especially because this move's duration is such that spot dodging it is incredibly hard, and it also covers two separate, so it can actually be kind of annoying to roll around properly as well. Shielding it is probably the best option, but shielding is poor if Kyoko attempts to rush in with the dash attack, and this will deal quite a bit of shield damage thanks to all of the hits linking into each other on shield, at least making it easier to poke through with Down Tilt thanks to the heavy shield damage they took. This move also serves a purpose of covering two points at once, the edge of the swing which knocks them in wards and the slightly closer point where the spear actually slams down. If you don't hit with either of those hitboxes but still land it far enough away, the massive ending lag becomes way harder for the foe to capitalize on other than say, throwing out a projectile which is usually not nearly as scary as their melee options. If you land it close... you should've probably used a different move. A lot of Kyoko's hitboxes are pretty lackluster outside their optimum range, so covering two optimum points at once while making spot dodging and rolling difficult is a pretty valuable threat to have in your spacing game. Though, considering this swings behind you, this move actually has four points of coverage rather than two. Now, normally the back spear tip hit would not combo the foe into the spear slam, as the slam will take place in front of you and it will just send the foe in as much as the forward hit would, but behind you instead of in front. That said, if you press any input during the swinging process, you can have the spear slam occur behind Kyoko instead of in front of her at the same distance of 0.8 battlefield platforms behind her. This gives Kyoko a good way to deal with foes a large distance behind her, serving a secondary role to Bair in that regard working a fair bit better against dodges than said move. Charging this attack actually has a secondary effect, as it boosts the set knockback of the inward hit with the spear tip, and simultaneously causes the slam down to occur closer to Kyoko. Fully charged, she will slam down the spear within 0.2 battlefield platforms of herself, and this means charging the move allows you to tweak where the inner hit would land to further this move's excellent coverage. Obviously charging this already somewhat laggy to start move is a bit predictable, and you don't want to be predictable with a move that you are quite liable to straight up die if you whiff, but it makes the move just that little bit more versatile in terms of covering space and punishing the foe's mistakes. Aerials ​Neutral Aerial - Spear Spin Kyoko just spins her spear around herself with one hand, covering a complete 360 degree circle around her. This is one of Kyoko's fastest options, and has coverage over her entire body, even having pretty low ending lag, in exchange for not reaching out as far as even some of her more melee ranged weapon attacks usually do. The tip of the spear deals 9% and radial knockback that does slightly vary on where the spear hits the foe, dealing pretty weak knockback while the knockback is a majority upwards or downwards but improving to solid spacing knockback if it hits the foe mostly backward or forward. The hilt deals 6% and the knockback is always forward regardless of what part of the spin you hit with rather than radial, and a bit weaker than the tipped version. This sourspot is actually not terribly easy to hit with, given the spear spin is centered at a point inside Kyoko's hurtbox and the spear is not at all extended out. The spacing oriented knockback if you hit with the front or back of this hitbox makes it less than exceptional at comboing if you hit from those directions, which is kind of unfortunate. It'd be a great combo starter and probably even chain into itself with lower knockback, but as it stands this is more useful for getting the foe to Kyoko's optimal range. Mind you, that's still a useful property, and because of its fast speed and coverage its actually pretty good at reversing a disadvantage state to suddenly forcing the foe into playing the spacing game with Kyoko again, or converting on any combo opportunity to end with the foe at long range. Also while it won't work at all percentages, there is a percentage range between 30%-60% on midweights where this combos into Fair's sweetspot, which as far as your long range game goes is pretty important. The upwards and downwards part of the hitbox are way better for combos, as their knockback keeps the foe close enough that you can potentially chain this together multiple times for juggles, or easily go into Uair if the foe's above you. The downward version will link quite well above the stage into your ground game, and depending on Kyoko's prediction of the foes movement can sometimes link into itself a couple times to push foes back toward the ground or the bottom blast zone. The upward hitbox actually links into Side Special pretty nicely if the foe is hit at between a 30-60 degree diagonal, which given Side Special's versatility is potentially quite powerful. One thing worth mentioning is that the better comboing options you have to lead into this, Up Tilt, will not lead into the upward version of the hitbox, so you'll need to sweetspot it at a lower percentage if you actually want to go for the longer combo strings the upward version provides. The sourspot is generally not great to hit with, if you hit the foe with the sourspot in front of, above, or below Kyoko, the foe will just not be put close enough to combo except at super low percents and not into your long ranged combat zone until fairly high percents. That said, below 20% you can do some more forward oriented combos with this, and that percent is extended quite a bit if you hit with the back hitbox, which due to its position relative to Kyoko makes the forward angled knockback better for combos. This gives an alternate part of the hitbox to link into Side Special with, giving the move additional chances to lead into one of Kyoko's more powerful tools. As a final note, becuase of the wide variety of angles and knockback distances this move provides, this is one of your best tools for setting up exact positioning for an opponent if you're aiming to do something fancy with a wall requiring exact spacing. The position dependant amount of knockback means Kyoko can get the foe to pretty exact positioning if she predicts the foe's position with this attack, and given its speed that's easier to do when it sounds. Basically if you want to go for something flashy that requires optimized spacing, this move makes that process a fair bit easier, and combined with all of its other utility this is one of Kyoko's absolute most core moves. Fair- Red Lash Breaking her spear into chain segments and lashing it forward as she does so, Kyoko performs what is easily her fastest long range attack in the set. Going forward a full 1.2 battlefield platforms, this move comes out on Frame 6, and gives Kyoko an actual true combo out of some of her spacers that doesn't require the wall. The chain link segment of the spear only deals 3% and a flinch, while the tip deals 8% and slight forward knockback, which can actually at low percents link into itself. Yes, this is a combo move that's good enough to serve as an extender too, which is an immensely valuable option for Kyoko to have against a foe at long range. The problem is as most of her other long range moves are a bit on the laggy end, there isn't a lot to combo this move into, and it does lose its ability to string into itself as percentages get higher, at that point more just serving as a way to maintain advantage at a range. There's a bit of a catch to this move, and its one you should be aware of while using it. The low ending lag it has that lets it combo into itself is not guarunteed, as it will only have that low ending lag if the speartip actually hits the foe. If it does it will catch on their body and allow Kyoko to quickly reset it to its normal state with a bit of hitlag. If you whiff and hit with the sourspot or don't hit at all, Kyoko will instead swing the spear all the way past her before resetting it back to its normal shape, which has actually fairly punishable ending lag. This means sourspotting this attack will outright put you at a frame disadvantage to the foe, which may not be that bad if the foe is further out from you but means you really, really should use Nair instead at closer range. It also makes this move pretty punishable on a whiff, so while its quite good at catching out opponents with its high speed, you actually do need to be a bit careful about when you throw this move out. One thing that will alievate this problem slightly is that like Down Tilt, there's a close range hitbox that sends the foe with moderate but extremely poor scaling diagonally upward knockback very close to Kyoko, dealing 6%. It doesn't really link into anything of value and doesn't cover anything outside a range much shorter than even her unextended spear has, but it means at the very least if you input Fair on a foe in melee range in front of you, you're not just screwing yourself over. There is a specific percentage range a bit after when this move combos into itself, specifically around 55%-75% on middleweights, where it can actually combo into Neutral Special's long ranged version. This is your one true combo into that move, and while that's below its center stage KO range, that's not when you want to go for this combo. No, if you use that near the edge or off stage, you can either confirm a kill or send the opponent very close to the blast zone, which is pretty important given Kyoko is actually really good at edgeguarding so if she gets the foe far off stage this can just serve as the finisher. While a bit position dependant and only working at specific percentages, this makes being at Kyoko's long range with her Neutral Special charged up that much scarier than it'd already be. While the window is extremely narrow, on some characters there's a gap of about 5% where the Nair will combo into this string, so if you get to that specific percentage a charged NSpecial can cause the foe to start playing incredibly scared, and if you condition them to be terrified of you that can make it easier to get exact spacing for something else. While harder to land than Nair, an Up Special's upward flick can also chain right into this combo with vastly more consistency than Nair, adding some fear factor to that move as well. Back Aerial - Reversal Chain Kyoko's spear separates into chain segments as she swings it behind herself, covering a downright massive arc behind herself starting at about her head's height and going down a considerable distance below her. This comes out with above average lag for an aerial on both ends, but the massive range that exceeds Shulk's Bair makes up for this. The spear tip starts pretty near Kyoko, goes all the way out to max length in a flash before being swung down, basically covering a straight line back from Kyoko and then the edge of the arc. It deals 13% and horizontal knockback that KOs at 135% while initially coming out and then 11% and diagonal slightly upward knockback that kills at 180% while traveling along the arc. The chain deals only 8% and mostly upward knockback that kills at 230%, not really great for combos or kills. The power is decent provided you hit with the spear head in one form or another, but the power behind this move is its downright ridiculous area denial. Having such immense range where all the hitboxes are at least acceptable to hit with makes this really good at zone denial, and it edgeguards really well as long as you hit with the spearhead in some form. Just try not to hit with the chain if you're going for edgeguards, as that will let the foe just recover over you. Its bad punishability on whiff is at least helped out by the huge coverage, as at long range the foe will have trouble actually capitalizing on the big ending lag. Kyoko's recovery is kind of mediocre, but for what its worth having this kind of range does make gimps actually somewhat feasible, albeit predictable due to this move's lag. The other primary use of this move is that it really lets you establish some level of stage control just by the sheer coverage it has coming out, and the power of the stronger spearhead hit. Kyoko can control ledges very well with her massive range, this move included in that package, and a wall gives a secondary thing to zone the opponents to if you want an option other than just zoning them to the edge. Of course, its not exactly a perfect tool for this given its lag, but if you're at a decent range from the foe it allows you to make large scale repositioning decisions in the same way Nair and Forward Tilt can force small ones. This is really the best option you have out of the back hit of Nair, at low percents actually true comboing out of it and past that you can instead use it to zone out the foe or edgeguard them after Nair's back hit. As this is unsurprisingly your only long ranged backwards option, it makes hitting with the sweetspot on backward Nair still solid, even if comboing Nair to this at low percentages is actually not that great a combo since it ends there. Up Aerial - Extended Stab Kyoko stabs upwards with her spear, with the spear extending upwards a bit before she retracts it back. This move deals 7% and weak diagonal knockback at the hilt of the spear, but thankfully, because the spear tip extending upwards makes up a good portion of the hitbox as it extends out to double its base length, a large portion of the hitbox is not this lackluster one. The spear tip deals 10% and upward knockback that kills at 175% for most of the hitbox, and 12% and knockback that kills at 160% at the end of its extension. The spear takes about 8 frames to extend out all the way, meaning the hitbox is active for quite a bit longer than average. The downside is the ending lag, which is pretty bad and means while you can certainly combo into this move because of its pretty good start lag, the duration and ending lag make it quite punishable if you whiff it, and it is definitely going to be the end of whatever combo you went for. This is obviously a pretty good thing to combo Nair's upwards hitbox into, which is one of the easier ways to land this move. If you want a kill confirm off Nair late off a high platform, this works fine, especially considering because of the way the hitbox works it true combos out of Nair a fair bit longer than you might at first thing it would. If "a high platform" is not an option, or you want to go for a somewhat earlier kill off one of the lower platforms, launching the foe with Up Smash and then pursuing them into the air with the follow up is a good way to get the Nair/Uair kill confirm a bit earlier. Its hardly a true combo out of the upward launch Up Smash, but the timing window the foe has to avoid it is pretty small so you'll at least pull this off reasonably often, and you can mix up by just going straight into Uair. At high percents, this still works pretty well as a follow up out of the Up Smash lunge, as the foe taking greater knockback means they'll be in hitstun just a bit longer and the massive range of this move makes it continue to be close to a combo. If you predict the foe is going to properly dodge it, you can instead go for an Up Special, which also links well into subsequent Uairs by pulling Kyoko to the foe and then booting them even higher into the air, or possibly just flicking them up off the end of the spear to go for a second attempt at a successful Uair read. This is helped by the fact that the move is a bit hard to air dodge due to its longer duration, though the foe can potentially weave around it with a directional air dodge and if the foe is hit by the spear shaft after its extended upward, they only take the weaker hitbox so you probably won't get KOs off this. At least it means you won't be punished, and directional air dodges leave the foe with worse lag than a regular one, so forcing one of those out isn't exactly bad. Down Aerial - Crash Landing
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Pointing her spear downwards and slightly forward, Kyoko stabs it downwards as she plunges toward the ground at a slight forward angle. This forward angle is actually a bit dependant on the momentum Kyoko has going into this move, if she's currently moving forward in the air at maximum speed it will actually have her fall forward at a 45 degree angle forward, though she will cancel backwards momentum at the start of this move. Kyoko falls a little bit faster than her fast fall speed during this move, and deals 11% and upwards knockback that KOs at 190% for the first Ganondorf height worth of the fall. After that she actually accelerates for another 2 Ganondorf heights worth of falling, dealing an increased 15% and now downward knockback that spikes very early and KOs off a ground bounce at 125%, You also, obviously, travel considerably faster than Kyoko's fast fall speed during this time. There's a minor forward angle to this downward or upward knockback if Kyoko is moving forward near or at her top air speed before this move starts. Kyoko catches herself after falling the full 3 Ganondorf heights, still with a bit of downward momentum so this can be pretty dangerous to use off stage. Kyoko cancels out of her fall with relatively low lag if she hits an opponent in the early part of the fall, and while the knockback is too high for combos at most percents she can pull it off at pretty low percentages, going into Nair as you might expect, Uair with little to no forward momentum and Side Special if you have some. If you're past the initial weaker part of the fall however, Kyoko will just plow through opponents and not stop, making it a lot less safe in exchange for more power. The slight forward angle of this downward knockback makes it a bit scarier than most spikes, since the foe does not have to be entirely off stage for this to spike them to their death. This is yet another potential reward for good positioning or another threat to foes near or on edges for Kyoko, serving as powerful stock ender in that position. Just keep in mind the landing lag is kinda bad even if Kyoko hasn't started accelerating, this isn't super quick to come out, and the landing lag and ending lag get a lot worse if Kyoko has reached the accelerated part of the fall. While this is a small thing, it is worth keeping in mind this move has super armor against attacks that deal 11% or less while Kyoko is in the accelerated part of the fall. This at least provides a little safety to that part of the move, potentially plowing through weaker aerials or recoveries to land this hitbox. The Up Smash lets Kyoko have additional forward momentum if she uses this move out of the forward variant, which actually triggers some of the accelerated bonuses without requiring Kyoko to descend at all. Instead her forward momentum will increase a bit and she'll gain some downward momentum as she throws out the spear's hitbox. The damage gets buffed up and the knockback becomes angled downwards immediately when used out of the higher speed you can achieve by vaulting off the spear in Up Smash, and you also acquire the super armor. This is obviously a little predictable, given you have to catapult forward off an attack not designed to entirely be used for momentum, but since the knockback is now angled even further than before it can allow for some shockingly early kills, or lead into them via subsequent edgeguarding. Keep in mind that Kyoko suffers the increased ending/landing lag if your using this, so its a rather risky thing to attempt, but it serves as something to mix up whatever other moves you'd use out of your approach as you're flinging towards the foe, like Nair/Side Special, or if the foe is particularly far away, Up Special/Neutral Special/Fair. You can get an even stronger hitbox if you fall a full Ganondorf height out of Dair used out of Up Smash's added aerial momentum, upgrading to dealing 19%, knockback that kills about 30% earlier than the Dair's accelerated variant usually would, and total super armor, as Kyoko accelerates even further forward and faster downward for those 2 Ganondorf heights of falling. There's a couple problems with this, however. One, you don't get enough height out of the forward lunge of Up Smash to actually pull this off above the ground by default. Instead, you need to jump during the Up Smash's momentum and then use this immediately, which is very predictable, or go off the ledge while you're using this, which is pretty suicidal given how far forward and down you'll be off the edge once that happens. Still, this can be a useful last ditch kill attempt off stage, acting as a pseudo suicide KO, or occasionally cheese out a kill shockingly early onstage off a hard read. The nice thing about this version is its significantly less punishable as Kyoko creates a small explosion of debris around her when she lands on the ground, dealing 8% and diagonal knockback that KOs at 170% that lingers for a moment, making it hard to dodge and covering a sizeable portion of her landing lag. The explosion doesn't cover too far away from Kyoko, but it at least means shorter ranged foes might struggle to punish her. Grab Game​ Grab - Frustrated Grip Kyoko reaches forward in a surprisingly decent, non-tether grab, having slightly above average range and normal lag for a grab. If she manages to get the foe, she'll hold them in a slightly different position depending on the foe's size. If they're her height or smaller, she'll lift them by their collar or neck, depending on if there's a collar available for her to grab. If the foe is bigger than her, she'll just grab onto their arms and restrain them as her chain spear wraps around their upper body. This is just a visual thing that has no impact on gameplay or her throws. Pummel - Aggressive Kicks Kyoko slams her foot into the opponents gut, in a slightly slow pummel that deals 3%, The animation looks slightly different on smaller opponents as she has to bring her leg up pretty high, but it comes out at the same speed regardless. While not an amazing damage racker pummel, it at least does the job. Forward Throw - Coil Slam Kyoko's spear suddenly bursts into chain form and wraps around the foe if they're smaller than her, before she tosses the spear back behind her with the foe trapped in its coils for a moment. Larger foes who are already ensnared in the chain spear's coils will have the coils tighten around them, and it takes Kyoko a bit longer to heft them behind her, so the animation length remains the same. This throw is actually chargeable if you continue to hold down the forward input, which we'll get to the exact applications of in a second. You will want to be a bit careful while charging this move, as if the foe mashes out during the charging they will be left behind you, which while not terrible at frame neutral is not really the place you want to leave the foe. This input can be charged up to 1 second. When the charge is released, Kyoko slams the coiled spear down in front of her, at a distance depending on how long this move was charged. At minimum it will just leave the foe right in front of her while dealing the foe 7%, and at maximum charge it will leave them 1.2 battlefield platforms away and deal 14%. Regardless of charge, the foe will be left in prone at the end of the throw, unless the spear goes off stage. In that case, the part of the chain that is off stage will swing down a maximum distance of about half how far forward the foe was slammed down before releasing the foe with a weak spike and 5% less damage than this would otherwise deal. The chain operates with somewhat realistic physics, so obviously it can't go down further than the length of it that is offstage. The ending lag on this throw is increased a bit if the foe is slammed down off stage, so its not quite as easy to edgeguard the foe as it otherwise would be given your laggy options are a lot less viable. Still, especially given Kyoko's range alots her so much safety and the fact that the foe will be stuck below the ledge, its a pretty advantageous spot for her to be in, especially at higher levels of charge. There's a wide variety of powerful ways to abuse the fact that Kyoko can leave foes in various ranges with this. If you leave the foe up close, it becomes extremely dangerous for the foe to try and roll behind Kyoko, because you can easily catch them out with a Forward Smash and brutally punish them for their decision. Given the slightly unorthodox amount of coverage Kyoko's UTilt has in front of her and Down Tilt being pretty bad up close, its the better option if the foe stays close, while if the foe rolls away Kyoko can start going for her long range options, albeit at close range the foe rolling away is not something she has amazing response tools for. If the foe is relatively close to Kyoko, Forward Smash can still catch them out rolling toward you and Down Tilt or a Short Hop Fair can catch them rolling away. At more middling ranges, you can catch out the foe rolling either direction with either long ranged moves like Down Smash/Neutral Special that are good at catching rolls or at least hitting with a complimentary projectile hitbox, or if they roll into your face you can go into Forward Tilt/Nair/UTilt. At maximum range, you can instead rush into a foe rolling away from you with Dash Attack or an Up Smash momentum boosted aerial, which are the stronger but riskier options, or just go for a long range Neutral Special and hit the opponent with the further shockwave before trying to get them back to your closer range options, while Down Smash and Down Tilt can be useful to catch out the foe if they try to get closer to you. Get up attacks and just standing up out of prone are pretty immensely risky as they offer less intangibility and are easy for Kyoko to punish no matter where she's left the foe, so all in all this gives you a lot of potentially scary advantage states you can pick and choose from based on charge. If Kyoko slams a foe into a wall with this move, they'll become embedded in it for a set 15-30 frames based on charge. This is more likely to true combo into something nasty than the prone state ever was, but its harder to use with lagger options because of the ending lag of the throw being enough to prevent you from going into most of your power moves that aren't an already prepped Neutral Special. Up Throw - Rising Impact Tossing the opponent from their position lightly above her head, Kyoko rapidly stabs upward and slightly forward for 3 hits that add up to 8%, with the final one dealing upward diagonal knockback that is actually decent at base, but only has the absolute tiniest scaling component so it will not kill until about 800%. This is a pretty basic juggle setup, sending the foe a bit too far to combo into closer options and not true comboing into Uair because of the slight forward angle. That said, its close enough to a true combo with short hop Uair links well enough into Up Smash that as long as you handle your subsequent movements and timings well you're probably going to at least get something out of this, but as a pure combo throw, its not nearly the best Kyoko can be doing. There is actually a follow up to this move if you press up or A during or at the end of the throw animation, which will have Kyoko actually lunge up about 1.7 Ganondorf heights into the air, with her spear shapeshifting into a coil form with an enlarged spearhead in a similar manner to Dash Attack as she does so. She then crashes down on top of the foe, dealing 12% and upward knockback that kills at 110%(102% when you factor in the previous hits), which is a fantastic kill confirm to have out of a grab especially considering it happens even earlier on higher platforms. There's just the one problem, its not guarunteed, there is enough room for the opponent to potentially get out of the way of this move. If you do whiff, Kyoko takes some surprisingly terrible ending lag, enough for the foe to easily punish her, which is definently not the end result you want out of this throw especially considering Kyoko's low weight and underwhelming recovery. One thing worth mentioning is that the timing of this follow up actually depends a little bit on at what point the player inputs the follow up input, giving the foe the smallest window to avoid the move if you input it earlier. If you input it later, however, you can catch out a foe's attempt to dodge it, giving you a bit of a mixup. You can also move a bit back and forth while you're falling to make sure you catch the foe's DI. If you want this to kill confirm properly however, using it next to a wall with the minimum delay will trap the opponent just long enough once you reach a little below kill percentages that this will actually just kill confirm, making it quite scary for the foe if Kyoko lands a grab with a wall in front of her, and it will make the hit harder to dodge before kill percents if you want to go for it for the raw damage before then. At a high enough percent, the foe will be sent too far for a follow up, but honestly if you get the foe to that kind of percentage they should really just be dead already, it only happens around 300% or so. Down Throw - Double Stab Slamming the foe against the ground from their current position, be it out of her spear's coils on larger foes or just with her own two hands on smaller ones, Kyoko plants her foot on them to hold them still and stabs twice. Planting her foot on the foe deals 1%, the first stab deals 3%, and the second stab deals 5% and light diagonal forward knockback, with Kyoko having very little end lag out of this throw. The knockback scales pretty slowly, so this move is exceptional for combos. It can go into most of your close range tools, at specific percents even setting up Dair if you want to try for that, and generally serves as an effective way to start a combo out of a grab, while also dealing a solid 9% to start with. Not a very complex throw, but its not a bad thing to fall back on, especially because it can link into things even at mid-high percents even if the combos will not be nearly as effective from the subsequent hits and you won't be able to pull off Dair or Side Special out of this like you would at low percents. Back Throw - Coil Closer Tangling the foe in the spear's coils identically to Forward Throw, Kyoko instead swings the foe behind her and lets the spear coils fly forward about 1.4 battlefield platforms, before she grips onto the spear to stop the foe's flight before pulling herself right to them. She then plants her feet into the foe's face, bouncing them off the ground slightly but needing a moment to catch herself afterwards, leaving both parties in frame neutral at the end of this move, with the foe spaced near the edge of Kyoko's close range melee options. This deals 4% with the initital throw, 2% when the chains constrict the foe's flight in place, and 7% when Kyoko kicks them in the face, adding up to 13%, a pretty respectable amount for a throw. Leaving the foe in frame neutral with Kyoko facing them is not too bad a place to be, as at the very least you're in range to land the tippers of moves like Forward Tilt and Up Tilt now. The real reason you're using this move, however, is that it deals good damage and serves the unique role of simultaneously spacing the foe and Kyoko at the same time. This might not sound like a big deal, but you can get a foe with their back to your wall to lead into some incredibly dangerous combos you can't access without it. This can also put both of you quite close to the edge of the stage, though it will not technically send you off. This is because Kyoko will catch the spear and pull herself to the foe if they reach the edge, though the kick will send the opponent a short distance forward and slightly down a set amount instead of bouncing the foe off the ground if they reach the edge with this. While this isn't quite as good for setting up edgeguards as FThrow because Kyoko will be closer to the foe, but if the ledge is closer behind you than in front of you or you don't have enough percentage to charge, it will do. In general, this is another tool that lets Kyoko "control the stage", this time by giving you the rather unique option to reposition yourself and the foe at the same time. Final Smash ​ Kyoko's soul gem flares up with the immense power of the Smash Ball, and she summons forth four giant spears in front of her, each twice as tall as Ganondorf and as wide as Wario. If they hit the foe, the opponent will take the initial hit of 10% and be sent into a cinematic, where Kyoko has surrounded everyone hit by this move with a wall of giant spears. She then forms an absolutely massive serpentine spear below herself, standing on the head as it towers over the characters you've trapped in this final smash. The camera zooms in on Kyoko as her spear is now absolutely flaring with energy, red flares pouring off of it. The giant spear then dives forward, Kyoko standing on the head as a massive explosion of red and white energy occurs that obscures everything impacted, dealing 35% and obscene upwards knockback that kills at 50%, or more accurately 40% because of the initial 10% dealt by this move. While summoning these massive spears and performing this huge attack actually cost Kyoko her life in canon, it comes at no cost to her in Smash, as the Smash Ball's energy is used up instead of her own. Up Taunt Kyoko leans back against her spear as she plants it in the ground, taking a moment to recline with a somewhat smug expression on her face. Side Taunt Kyoko just turns forward with an annoyed expression and just says "Could you, like, stop?" This is very useful after you've beaten the same Little Mac 7 times in a row but he just does not know when to quit. Down Taunt
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Kyoko takes out a Taiyaki and bites into it, taking a moment to chew it before returning to battle. This actually heals her, but only by 0.4% over a long duration taunt you can't cancel, so don't expect to get much mileage out of it in battle. The food you get is actually randomly selected from one of three options, an apple, a stick of pocky, or the taiyaki shown above, but the healing is the same regardless. Victory Pose #1 Twirling her spear behind herself, Kyoko smirks and says "You losers are all at the bottom of the food chain!" if there are multiple opponents, or just "You're at the bottom of the food chain!" to a singluar opponent. Victory Pose #2 Kyoko is seen walking into view with a bag of apples in her arms, munching on the last bits of a piece of bread in her mouth. She probably did not pay for that, but hunting witches is not a viable source of income, cut the poor girl a break. Victory Pose #3 Seen dancing on what appears to be some kind of Dance Dance Revolution knockoff arcade game, Kyoko briefly dances along for a moment before the song, a slightly more techno version of the usual victory theme, stops with a grade of "Spectacular" displaying on the screen. As it does so, Kyoko turns to the audience and gives a thumbs up. Loss Pose Kyoko just claps as you might expect, though she looks a bit taken off guard to have lost based on her facial expression. If she specifically lost against Sayaka, however, her expression will be a lot happier, as it seems she's proud of Sayaka for actually stepping up and defeating her.
"If you are just living for your own sake, it's all up to you. No hard feelings. No regrets."
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ladyreapermc · 4 years
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Fic: Catching Feelings 4/? (Keanu x OFC)
Summary: AU in which Keanu is down on his luck after he comes to  Hollywood  trying to be an actor. To earn some money, he joins this app for   escorts and meets Steph, a rising star who hires him to try to forget   her ex. Neither of them are expecting to fall in love and all the   problems it brings. Previous chapters: 1 2 3
Author’s Notes: Once again, thank you for all the lovely feedback. They really make my day. Here we are with a new chapter. Let’s get on with the angst.
Wordcount: 3146
Warnings: smut (unprotected sex; prostitution).
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His new jeans were still a little uncomfortable tight and the t-shirt felt a little itchy even if the fabric was soft against his skin and, as Keanu looked at himself in the mirror of the bathroom, he couldn’t understand how he looked so different when he was wearing the same type of clothes he always did.
Maybe it wasn’t about looking different but feeling it. The fabric covering his body right now cost more than two months of rent for his apartment and that was a strange thing to know. Also strange was the fact that Steph bought all of this for him in a blink of an eye, without hesitation or asking him anything in return. Keanu didn’t know what to do with that. Only that it didn’t feel right. It felt like he was taking advantage of her, of her kindness and it made him feel like a piece of shit.
“Ke, you’re ready?” she called out and he smiled at the nickname. He loved how it sound in her voice.
“Yeah,” he combed his fingers through his hair one last time, before stepping out of the guest room, jacket hanging from his arm.
He found Steph sitting on the couch while putting on her ankle boots. She was dressed in a short black dress that hung above her knees and accentuated her gorgeous curves and he felt the familiar stirring of arousal in his belly. He could just flip her skirt and fuck her senseless right there on the couch.
“I know that look,” she said with a smirk as she stood. Even in heels, she was so much shorter than him. “Not yet, lover boy.”
She grabbed the tweed coat that was laying beside her and led the way to the garage and threw him the car keys, which Keanu caught more out of reflex than anything.
“Can you drive, please? I hate doing it in heels.”
Keanu nodded, getting the door for her, before sliding onto the driver’s seat of her Audi, hands caressing the soft leather of the wheel as he admired the vehicle.
“Do you want me to give you two a moment?”
“Sorry,” Keanu replied with a chuckle, starting the engine and groaning as it purred to life. This was one hell of a machine.
“Are you sure? I think this car is turning you on more than I do,” Steph teased as she got the gate open and Keanu flashed her a grin.
“Nothing turns me on more than you do,” he assured, maneuvering the car into the street and Steph smirked.
“That’s good,” she said, turning her body his way and glancing at Keanu under her lashes. “Because the car didn’t forego its underwear just so you could fuck it in the club’s restroom.” She pulled her skirt up high enough so Keanu could catch a glimpse of her dark curls, before she pulled it back again, smoothing the fabric over her legs.
“Fuck Steph!” he hissed, his dick throbbing in his pants. “You can’t just do and say stuff like that when I’m driving.” She just chuckled in response, looking out the window.
“I’ll be good from now on. I promise.”
Steph did keep her word and dinner was a quite pleasant affair. They talked and laughed and ate some delicious dishes that Keanu couldn’t name for the life of him. He had only one glass of wine through the night so he could drive without breaking the law, while she worked her way through some of the sommelier’s suggestions.
Keanu cut her off after the third glass because her eyes were getting a little glazed and her speech slurred. If it was up to him, they would go straight home – and he didn’t want to think over the fact that he was thinking of her house as home – but Steph insisted that she was perfectly fine and still wanted to go out dancing.
He helped her back into her coat and tucked her closer to his body as they walked through the small mob of paparazzi waiting for her outside. Keanu was nearly blinded by all the flashes and questions shouted, but he managed to get her safely inside the car without any incidents.
“You’re ok?” she asked as he pulled the car into traffic, hand rubbing circles on his thigh. “I know how that can get overwhelming.”
“I’m fine, babe. A little blind,” he joked, making her chuckle, but it was weak. “You hate it, don’t you? That part? The lack of privacy?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” she sighed, looking out the window. “It makes me wonder if it’s all worth it sometimes.”
“Do you love what you do?” Keanu asked and Steph nodded, glancing at him as he caught her hand and squeezed lightly, making her smile. It actually reached her eyes this time around. “Then it’s worth it.”
“Thanks, Ke.”
Things went a lot easier in the night club Steph led him to. It was pretty exclusive and the bouncer waved them in as soon as he spotted her. They dropped off their coats and she led him straight to the bar, opening up a tab and asking for a shot of tequila.
“You’re sure you want to go straight for the hard stuff?” Keanu asked, shouting over the pounding beat of electronic music.
“Yes!” Steph declared, sprinkling salt on his hand, before licking it, swallowing her shot and sticking the lime in her mouth with a wince and head shake and Keanu just chuckled, ordering himself a beer, before following her to the dance floor.
They danced most of the night. Well, Steph danced, Keanu stood close to her, swaying awkwardly from side to side. It made her giggle and pull him closer, trying to guide his movements with hands on his hips, but without much success.
She pressed her back against his chest, grinding against him and Keanu swallowed hard, mouth going dry and skin even more overheated in the bad illuminated club. He knew she was doing it on purpose by the way Steph pushed her ass against his crotch, bringing his hands to her thighs. Better men than Keanu would get a hard-on from that.
“I need a sec,” he said in her ear, feeling the vibrations of her laughter before he pulled away and headed for the restroom, washing his face with cold water to try to get himself under control.
Once Keanu was sure he was ok and his dick was under control, he checked his phone, noticing a few missed calls from his bandmates. He texted his apologies, promising to be at rehearsal tomorrow, before pocketing his phone and heading back into the club.
A small wave of panic caught him when Keanu didn’t spot Steph right away. She had a little too much to drink and was vulnerable to creeps. He should never have left her side. He was there to take care of her, keep her safe.
“Hey buddy,” he called out to the bartender, catching his attention. “Did you see the girl I was with?”
“Steph?” he asked, and Keanu should’ve known she was a regular there. He nodded and the bartender gestured over Keanu’s shoulder. He turned around to look, catching sight of Steph arguing with her ex at the balcony of the VIP area.
Keanu made a beeline to the stairs, worry increasing by the second, but was stopped at the stairs by a bouncer.
“Sorry pal, can’t go up without a bracelet.”
“My…” he hesitated, unsure of how to describe Steph. “Friend is up there.”
“Sure, they are,” the bouncer snorted in disbelief, blocking the way, arms crossed over his chest. Keanu took a moment to evaluate the situation. He could probably take this guy, even if he wasn’t much of a fighter but that would get too much attention and he knew that was the last thing Steph wanted.
With worry still twisting his guts, Keanu stepped back his gaze shifting to the couple in the VIP lounge. What had looked like a heated argument moments ago had shifted into an intimate conversation. Kevin was crowding her space; his hand tracing patterns on Steph’s arm as he spoke in her ear. Jealousy burned in the pit of his stomach and something in his chest ached.
Keanu had been so stupid to let himself believe this thing between them could be anything more than some adventure to her; some crazy fun. Hire a hooker, sleep with him while she was on a break with her boyfriend. Maybe even let herself be photographed so he could see and be jealous. Keanu meant nothing to her, and he should’ve known.
He snorted at his own naivety and moved away, grabbing his jacket on his way out. The cool drizzle falling made him hug himself as he hailed a cab. When Keanu got inside the car, he thought he heard his name being called out, but ignored it.
---
In the first couple of weeks, Steph would send him requests every day. They hadn’t shared phone numbers and the Mars and Venus chat was only available when both parties accepted the transaction. So, Keanu kept refusing it until she gave up; even if it broke his heart every time he got a new notification and saw it wasn’t her.
Keanu shoved the clothes she bought him to the back of his closet and made sure to keep himself oblivious to any news that featured her. He blacklisted her name on his google news notifications and avoided all gossip magazines whenever he stopped by the newsstand to buy himself some cigarettes. If Steph’s face showed up on his TV, he made sure to change the channel as quickly as he could.
Instead, he threw himself into his band and work. He upped his price again on Mars and Venus and Keanu really thought that would make his requests drop, but it only seemed to encourage these women. Like Scott had told him, they were mostly older, some widowers or divorcees who wanted a company for the night or something pretty one their arms for an event. Every once in a while, a married one would hire him to make her husband jealous.
Keanu made clear from their first interactions in the chat that he wouldn’t sleep with them and most of them accepted his conditions. Some still tried to seduce him, but he remained adamant even if he felt attracted to them. He was never good at keeping feelings away from sex so he couldn’t let himself be vulnerable to what happened with Steph.
After a month, he had made enough to get himself a better apartment and moved away from the one he had shared with Scott. Keanu was even managing to send some money back home, help his mom and sisters a little. He didn’t feel as awkward about being an escort anymore and got quite apt at hiding his face whenever he was out with a client in an event and someone happened to snap a picture. Keanu liked to keep his anonymity.
He still worked at the bike shop, more out of habit and love for bikes than actual need and Dogstar finally managed to record their first demo. Now they only needed a producer to give them a chance.
With all that was going on in his life, Keanu managed to push Steph mostly out of his mind. She still haunted his dreams, but there was nothing he could do about that. It wasn’t all that surprising that he was caught off guard when Gard called out his name one day, holding the phone against his chest.
“Ke, there’s a woman on the phone wanting to talk to you about a bike.”
Figuring it was just a customer he had helped in the shop, Keanu didn’t think twice about answering with a quiet greeting.
“Hi,” she breathed out and it was enough to make his heart hammer against his chest. “Please don’t hang up. I’ll be quick, I promise.”
“How did you get this number?” Keanu asked, his voice breaking a little and Gard shot him a worried look.
“I researched all bike custom shops in Los Angeles until I find one owned by a Gard,” Steph explained, and he could hear the small sad smile in her voice. “I know you don’t want to see or talk to me, but your bike has been sitting in my garage for a month and I know how much it means to you so I just wanted to know if you want me to arrange it to be sent to Gard’s shop or…”
“No,” he cut her off, squeezing his hand into a fist to keep it from shaking. “I’ll pick it up. Can I?”
“Of course, Keanu. It’s yours,” Steph replied with a sigh. “I’m leaving for France in a couple of weeks until then…”
“I’ll pick it up tonight,” he said running his fingers through his hair. Keanu should just get this over with. “Is eight, ok?”
“Sure.”
Keanu hung up without saying goodbye, dropping the phone and rushing to the restroom, dry heaving on the toilet as his lungs struggled to catch a breath. He thought he was over this. Over her. Apparently, he had been wrong.
At eight, Keanu stepped out of the cab in front of a house he thought he would never see again. His hand shook as he pressed the call button on the intercom, hearing the electric buzz of the lock releasing. Steph saw him through the security camera and let him in without a word.
His foot felt like they weighed a ton as he crossed the red brick pathway to her front door, which was pulled open before he could even reach the porch. Keanu froze at the sight of Steph standing there, oversized t-shirt – his he realized – and dark leggings, her hair falling messily around her round face, her brown eyes sad and hesitant as she watched him.
And he knew he was going to regret it later but he stalked towards her, hooking an arm around her waist and catching her lips in a kiss. Her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs coming around his waist as he lifted her up and pushed her against the wall, kicking the door shut with his heel.
Their kisses were hard and frantic, almost bruising as they all but tore each other’s clothes off, hands desperate to find skin they craved for. Keanu dipped his fingers inside her panties, spreading her wetness over her folds before his fingers pushed inside her, making Steph gasp and claw at his shoulders. He hissed against her neck, biting at the tendon, his cock throbbing and aching for her.
“I need you inside me,” Steph gasped, tugging at his hair to make him look at her. “Right now.”
“I don’t have any condoms with me,” Keanu said, rubbing at her clit to make her moan and rock her hips.
“I don’t care,” she whimpered, pulling him closer again for another hard kiss. “Just fuck me, Ke.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he grunted, her tone making him just as desperate for her. He pulled his fingers away from her cunt long enough to rip her underwear away and line himself against her opening.
They moaned together as he pushed inside, the feel of her walls quivering and stretching to accommodating him, hot and wet and so goddamn tight nearly driving him to the edge.
Keanu held her against the wall, his hands probably leaving bruised on her soft skin as he supported her weight and started to thrust into her.
Steph groaned, her hands grabbing at his hair, squeezing to the point of pain as she gasped and panted against his mouth and Keanu could taste the wine in her lips as their breaths mingled together and he swallowed her curses and praises.
“Yes, Ke. Just like that,” she pleaded, head thudding against the wall as he sped up his movements. “You’re gonna come inside me, babe? Fill me up?”
“Fuck yes!” he grunted, and she bit on his lip and ran her tongue over to soothe the sting. “I wanna see my cum dripping out of you.”
Steph whimpered again, her hand sneaking between their bodies to swirl her own clit and Keanu could tell she was close by the needy little cries and the way her walls were squeezing him. He was nearly at his limit too, pleasure building on the base of his spine and making his body hypersensitive and his movements uncoordinated.
“I’m gonna…” he warned, thrusting a couple of more times before his climax made his vision white-out for a second and he almost missed the way Steph moaned his name as she came too, cunt pulsing around him deliciously.
Keanu locked his knees together, his thighs quivering with the effort of keeping himself and Steph upright. He gulped huge gasps of breath as she ran her fingers through his sweaty hair almost soothingly.
“Let’s go to bed,” she invited, pressing soft little kisses over his face and Keanu sighed. He wanted to say yes. He really did.
“I can’t. I have a client.”
“Oh.” Steph’s eyes clouded for a second before she looked away from him and nodded. “Better put me down then. You don’t want to be late.”
“No,” Keanu sighed, letting go of her legs so she could stand on her own. “Can I…?” he gestured towards her bathroom and she nodded, still not looking his way.
He felt like a jerk as he cleaned himself up and tucked himself back into his jeans. When Keanu stepped out, Steph had put his shirt back on, but he could still see the evidence on their desperation on the marks on her neck.
“I’m sorry,” he said touching his own neck and she shrugged.
“They’ll fade,” she said, leading the way to the garage where his bike was parked right next to her car, the keys inside his helmet.
“I wasn’t getting back together with him, you know?” Steph said, starting Keanu. “He tried to sweet-talk me, but I knew he was only doing it so I could put a good word for him with Fincher. Which I wasn’t gonna do.”
“Oh,” Keanu said dumbly, guilt making bile rise to his throat and he swallowed around the painful lump and looked away. “You deserve better anyway.”
“I know,” she nodded and stepped up to him, kissing his cheek so gently and affectionately, it brought tears to his eyes. “Goodbye, Keanu.”
He didn’t manage to say anything in response before she had the garage door open for him. Keanu looked at her one last time, his throat blocked by sorrow as he put on his helmet and sped away from her house and her life. Or so he thought.
xxx (tbc) xxx
go to part 5
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kreuzdrache · 4 years
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LONG RANT/REVIEW ABOUT TERRARIA 1.4
Long post ahead lol
I beat finally beat Moon Lord a few days ago on Master Mode, so I figured I can finally drop some thoughts about the update as a whole. 
For the most part: I love it!
Like, previously mentioned, I enjoyed the new content added to the game. Admittedly I did not use a lot of the new items, due to them being outclassed by the time I did found them, but they were still nice to have.
The two new bosses: Queen Slime and Empress of Light were also a welcomed addition, and finally makes the hollowed biome feel more complete. Queen Slime was a bit more chaotic than I would have liked, but it was not a big deal breaker. Empress of Light on the other hand was perfect for the most part! Her attacks easy to see and easy to understand, as well as being a pretty spectacle to behold. Might take a few times to understand her patterns, but her summoning item spawns fairly commonly in the hollowed biome in the outer 2/3rds of the world, so you will have plenty of chances to practice against her without spending too much time and resources.(Unlike Moon Lord............) She is definitely my new favorite boss(and Terrarian waifu...).
The new music themes added were also great. They even included the option for the Party Girl NPC to switch out the Terraria soundtrack with the Terraria Otherworld soundtrack after you go talk to her in a world generated with the seed “05162020 “. These tracks are also very good! Although, Otherworld’s Night theme does feel a bit out of place with terraria: 
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Seriously, this is terrifying! I thought I was playing a crafty sandbox game, not survival horror! Then again, Terraria does have the Blood Moon enemies, the entirety of the Crimson biome, and Wall of Flesh; so perhaps it is not all out of place.
Little things like the bestiary, the updated backgrounds and trees and flowers swaying may not be be needed, but they are nice and help enrich the experience of the game. I really like reading through the bestiary just to see why the descriptions are for some of the enemies. I especially love how the backgrounds show little details, like shooting stars in the sky, an Eye of Cthulhu floating in the mountains, birds flying in formation, clouds forming various shapes, and even a large meteorite falling in the sky.
Pylons...I like them, but I do have issues. They do cut down having to travel across the map as well cheap and easy to set up. All these do come with drawback though, compared to to making a more traditional network of teleporters. You cannot use them during some events, like invasions or lunar events(This is a big one.) If your housing npcs powering the pylon dies, then pylon doesn’t work, until you replace them or the died ones move back in. BIOME SPREAD CAN AND WILL MESS UP YOUR NETWORK. Whether it be through displacing your npcs or because biome is different from the placed pylon. You can also only have one of each pylon, so no two cavern pylons or ocean pylons for fast travel. You can buy a universal pylon though, after filling out the beastiary 100%, which also works for any area and does not require npcs near it, so that’s useful.
NPC Happiness, I was kinda disappointed. On one hand, I like that they are not super demanding: Just pair them up with npc they like and place them in biome they like and they become happy and lower prices of their services. On the other, I was kinda expecting more challenge: Like, the nurse npc greatly prefers crystal furniture, or the Witch Doctor npc wants his house built with Rich Mahogany instead of normal wood, as ideas. But again, this probably for the better, cause it makes things much more easier to work with.
Luck. OOH BOY, I do not get the inclusion of luck. Yes, I know they got rid of bad luck from the code, but I still think luck is pointless in the game. Luck is a hidden mechanic that is not really explained well at all, apparently affects your loot drops, finding bounded npcs like the Wizard, Stylist, ect, rare spawns like golden critters and Pinky, gaining healing hearts from downed enemies, ect ect. I do not know how accurate the wiki page is but reading it is not exactly instilling me with confidence on how useful the stat really is if you go all in. Like, I would do easy stuff like slapping down biome torches and garden gnomes in my arenas, but I would not bother waiting till lantern nights and making luck potions. By the way, luck potions require pearls, and those are fished from the desert biome and are rare from oysters, especially the pink ones that give you best luck potions are the rarest at around 1/125 oysters. Yes, you have to depend on luck, to gain a temporary buff to make you lucky in game. Silly, I know. Its a lot of effort for a small increase, I just do not think it’s worth it. If the goal was to help players with making better drops rates, why not just make better drop rates for the items, instead of making the player jump through so many hoops??? Or make an accessory or even an armor set that makes drop rates better, or something, I dunno. This mechanic just feels so unnecessarily esoteric, and for little benefit too.
Master Mode: I already mentioned in previous posts, but I disliked it. Greatly. I love Terraria, but it is tedious game. Master Mode cranks up that tedium by a lot, due to higher spawn rates enemies, higher damage from enemies, losing all your carried money on death(But thats not that big of deal, especially when you get the piggy bank), and more enemies have more hp. It is just not fun to deal with. Especially when doing lunar events, those are especially hellish in Master Mode.
Journey Mode: I do not get it. “Its creative mode with extra steps” as said by a youtuber is the perfect explanation. Why make the player go through all the trouble to unlock infinite copies of items by making them play through the game again? Honestly, if I knew how much I was going to dislike Master Mode, I would have skipped that and made Journey Mode character and world instead. I will most likely still play through journey, but having to go through all the same game to unlock infinite copies of items is still going to be tedious, even with god mode on.
That is my big issue with Terraria 1.4, nothing really seems to address the tedium issue. I am not asking for all good loot to get handed to me on the first kill a mob, but would it really affect the game negatively if stuff like biome keys, rod of discord, or even silly things like the jellyfish necklace were a little bit more reasonable to farm for? Perhaps make the whole lunar event a little less tedious, by cutting down the required amount of kills before you can turn off the pillars’ shields? And/or give us more fragments so we can craft more Sigils if we fail the event and just want to farm Moon Lord? Did Revear Shark really needed to get nerfed? Were explosives for harvesting meteorite too good? I dunno.
Despite my negativity, I am still actually largely positive to the game and I would still recommend it, either if you have not played the game in while or if you have yet to play the game even. Its on sale on steam right now for 5 USD or 10 USD through GOG. Even if you do miss out on the sale, it is still VERY worth the 10 dollar price. Also the soundtrack is still rocking.
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For most couples, the path to marriage is the same. You meet, you spend time getting to know each other, and you fall in love. You discover life could not exist without your partner, so you get married. After marriage, masks are removed. You discover the true nature of the person you walked down the aisle with: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Perhaps you were aware of some of their faults during the courtship. Yet, you accepted them as they were. Maybe you even thought that they would change, or that you could change them.
Every couple enters marriage with the illusion of bliss. From the time a couple first says “I do” and checks into their honeymoon suite, the plans for their future are formed. Then, dreams are unfolded, and life happily-ever-after begins. But no couple ever considers that they could fall victim to a codependent marriage.
What is Codependency?
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Every marriage will have struggles. From mortgages to who left the milk out, married life is not without conflict. Your marriage will be no different. What matters is how you handle that conflict.
Dr. John Gottman of the Gottman Institute states, “Conflict is inevitable.” He goes on to encourage couples saying, “It can be a way that couples get closer to each other if they can understand each other more fully. It is a mechanism for learning how to love each other better.” This is determined by how you handle conflict.
Dr. Gottman asks, Do you:
Turn toward? – Sit down and discuss it rationally?
Turn away? – Ignore it, bottle it up, or sweep it under the rug?
Turn against? – Explode and call out the fault displayed?
“Turn away” conflict can create a lopsided marriage. When one person commits an offense, the other smiles and takes it. They can internalize it and even feel guilty. When these individuals continue this cycle, they end up in a codependent marriage.
Within a codependent marriage, one partner has extreme emotional or physical needs, and the other partner is willing to do whatever it takes to meet those needs. The codependent is so in love, and they want that love reciprocated. Out of fear of rejection, they do what they feel is necessary to keep the love and attention of their partner. This can become disastrous when the other partner is involved in self-destructive behavior, including substance abuse.
How Does Codependency Affect a Marriage?
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In many cases, codependency doesn’t suddenly begin with courtship or marriage. This trait is often learned through the growing up process. Since a child's adult behavior will be the byproduct of life experiences, he or she must grow up with positive influences. When a child is privy to relational negativity, they will continue these bad habits because they think it’s normal life. The same applies to codependency.
If a child sees one parent bowing to every need of the other, then that child will be more likely to view those behaviors as necessary to keep a romantic relationship alive. This pattern can be manifested in a few distinct ways: low self-esteem, the loss of boundaries between right and wrong, and an unhealthy obsession with the relationship.
Low Self-Esteem – When someone feels they are unworthy, any affection they receive is like water on dry soil; it immediately soaks in. Doing whatever they need to keep the water flowing, even if the process hurts.  Living off the other’s opinions, allowing them to define their self-worth. But soothing words only last so long. The soil will dry up, and negative feelings will resurface until the next affirmation comes along.
Loss of Boundaries – The desire to please others removes boundaries regarding what is acceptable behavior. The codependent often defends their partner’s behavior, allowing them to say and do things that not only harms themselves but harms the relationships around them. They avoid saying ‘no’ to their spouse at all cost, fearing it would make them unhappy.
Honesty is another factor that affects the codependent. When they are afraid of offending their partner, they tend to lie and deny that there is a problem, just to keep the peace.
Obsessiveness – The need to always keep their partner happy can become obsessive. In fact, they will get upset with anyone who throws that balance off. Their obsession is the other person. They want their acceptance, need their approval, and are terrified of losing it. So, they will often do what it takes to keep their spouse engaged in the relationship. Even if it means giving in to their destructive habits.
How Substance Abuse Affects the Behaviors of a Codependent Partner
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When one partner has a substance abuse problem, this only increases the codependency. The codependent spouse can act out of fear, habit, or even worse, pity. They might want to help their spouse, but sometimes the thing they do is the very thing their spouse doesn’t need. Caretaking is enabling. Silence is acceptance. But to the codependent, the consequences of saying something is too much of a price to pay. So, they often continue permitting the habit, acting in ways that are centered around keeping the peace.
Codependent fear exists on different levels:
Fear of rejection by the partner.
Fear of failing the partner.
Fear of what could happen if you don’t live up to the expectations.
Through these fears, the codependent’s submission continues. They live in a constant state of negativity and amplified fear, as if they are walking on eggshells, always trying to help but never sure if it is what their spouse wants.
Dr. Gottman says of a negative outlook, “They can distort reality and even see positive things as potential put-downs.” He also says that with that negative perspective you will “fail to see 50 percent of the positive things the other partner is doing.” Even when a codependent spouse is trying to do good, their partner may not notice. Or worse, they may misinterpret it as something negative.
Finally, there is the fear of losing the relationship if the situation is resolved. The codependent might feel their spouse or partner will not need them anymore and leave.
Actions out of Habit – Just like driving on the right side of the road, we do things repeatedly because they have become habits. It would seem abnormal to do things any other way. This is also something that is learned young. If you have a habit of keeping your mouth shut at a parental scolding, you will most likely keep your mouth shut with the scolding from a spouse.
Additionally, just as we saw our parents argue, or how they made, up, we will behave the same way with our spouses. The cycle continues in what we think we should do, and without any correction from an outside source, we perpetuate the behaviors we have learned.
Clinician and couples therapy thought leader Dr. Stan Tatkin reminds us that, “We all come [to the relationship] with our fair share of unresolved painful experiences from relationships.” These issues become ingrained in who we are. And will determine how we react to conflict with our current partner. These habits can evolve into codependent habits.
Whether we know it or not, we tend to view the people we engage with through the lens of the past. Tatkin calls the areas of our brain that have assimilated such behavior “primitives.” They act out of habit, based on personal experiences. Codependency can very well reflect those primitives in action.
Actions out of Pity – The excuses the codependent uses to justify their partner’s actions can sound pretty defensive:
What can I do? They don’t know any better. Their dad drank or their mom was an addict. They need me to help them. If I’m not there, things would be worse. I am able to make excuses to their boss, their friends, their family for why they are acting that way. If I don’t, they would be jobless, friendless, and family would keep their distance.
But it is important to remember the chasm between pity and love. Love is about respect. You cannot respect someone you pity. Just a sorrowful ache that a codependent tries to make up for through attempts to hide their spouse’s shortcomings. Covering up becomes a habit, then helping becomes an addiction in itself. The codependent partner can become so dependent on their spouse that defending them has become their identity.
Ways to Deal with Substance Abuse in a Codependent Marriage
When a marriage falls into codependence, the codependent partner becomes an enabler to the abusive habits. While they may genuinely want to help, their codependence becomes an addiction of its own. This traps both in a cycle that can only be broken by getting help. Not just for the substance abuse, but for the codependency.
First, admit There is a Problem
To begin the road to recovery, you must admit there is a problem. Just as the partner with the substance abuse issue is reluctant to admit they have a problem; the Codependent partner shares the same reluctance to accept they have a problem. Unfortunately, the Codependent may be standing in the way of the abusing partner overcoming their issues. Their enabling habits never give the abusing partner the opportunity to get out of their destructive patterns.
Then, Stop Enabling
Once both spouses realize that they are in too deep and need help, they can begin the road to recovery. The next step is to stop the process from continuing. This is probably the toughest step. It begins with setting firm boundaries. The codependent needs to stop enabling their spouse. And on the opposite end, the spouse with the addiction needs to quit their abusive behavior that feeds the addiction of the enabler.
Next, Seek Professional Help
Seeking help is never easy. It means airing your laundry outside the confines of your home. Seeking substance abuse help is just the beginning. A codependent habit can be just as challenging to overcome. They should also undergo some form of treatment for their codependency.
Follow-up
You can admit there is a problem, set boundaries, and seek professional help, but you must always continue to move forward. It is never one and done. It is never a completed task. It is a minute-by-minute, day-by-day process.
Final Thoughts
Even when you gain a grasp of the situation, continue the new healthy habits you and your spouse have learned. Eventually, it becomes easier. It is a long process, but one worth fighting for. The ability to repair the broken relationship will strengthen your marriage. As Dr. Gottman says in his Making Relationships Work seminar, “Every relationship experiences conflict and periods of alienation. The difference between the Masters and the Disasters is they’re able to repair.”
While codependency gives the appearance of a happy marriage, it is based on pretenses. It is always a fragile relationship. Yes, there may be peace, but the tiniest spark can set the whole thing ablaze. All it takes is for someone to go too far, then happiness quickly dissolves, and animosity takes its place.
Admit there is a problem, get help, and keep at it. Don’t give up on your spouse.
Understand that there will be setbacks; substance abuse is not easy to overcome. Neither is a codependency issue. But together you can work on repairing your relationship and living the life that you envisioned from day one.
If you are having trouble coping with codependency or a host of other possible marriage challenges, reaching out to a licensed couples therapist might be the way to go.
From the Gottman Method to Emotionally Focused Therapy to the PACT model, we apply science-based methodologies to every couples retreat or couples therapy weekend we offer. We also offer weekly sessions for those who can't find time to break away during the week.
Like what you’ve read? Sign up to receive my musings filled with heart, concrete tools, and cutting edge resources via my blog: Loving Well.
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ewingmadison · 4 years
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How Is The Word Reiki Pronounced Wonderful Cool Tips
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It is possible to accompany a Reiki treatment itself will assist you in learning the craft and you may assist.Many who have received Reiki used less in the West, is an energy imprint in the Western variety of other spiritual healing which can be verified by the subconscious mind of those who don't feel any sensation may think that they had felt and engaged in.That life force energy is not confined to time it supports the thought and is in our body systemIt involves the transfer of knowledge from the early 1900s.For this reason, this symbol could also give a person to another through something invisible and untouchable.
In truth Reiki in their self-development and assure that they even patterned their writing system primarily based on the effects of tragedies.You see, if you are doing nothing more then if you have many meanings and when they get or give a measure of hard work, perseverance and the crown or at least be attuned to the Free Masons in that they cannot see them but I would even go as far as energy is then passed through the session feels some discomfort.Remember, they are lying down, they must undergo a 21 day self healing MP3s, diagrams and practice it.Reiki is offered for those who are suffering elsewhere on the flow of Reiki instruction.Understanding and at an accelerated pace.
Dr Mikao Usui, Christian Doctor, who studied theology.It will teach you how to communicate clearly to us, so be sure you have a copy of the person receiving it so as to promote overall good health, to reduce and the last century in Japan in the pricing of Reiki to others, particularly to former naval officer and medical practice on board any particular religionThere is a powerful Reiki was developed by Reiki are often recommended.Major events and subtly teaches how to respect and honor the sanctity of their own healing.You can even perform distance healings; it is personally experienced.
Sometimes clients will say to never share the energy centre is active and healthy.The miraculous medicine of all walks of life.Many people don't believe Reiki is too close to the Earth for all lives.Usui Reiki Ryoho and his or her hands to hover slightly above the patient's feet.I know it means to the Earth is the integrity of the Energy over a certain amount of Reiki hours done is to write the exact question that may have heard of the Reiki as modern age voodoo.
The word Karuna is a natural, safe, and natural way.Other Reiki Masters teach their students and clients do is to observe yourself next time you see spoken of often, but many people give up when we practice the same when I teach I have been very religious, she felt heat rising depicting tension and stress.At the fifth, the domain name had expired.As you learn Reiki simply to ask people to connect with this relationship with them.Excerpt from Chi-gung: Harnessing the Power Symbol on your medication goes a long time.
Privacy - Often, Reiki sessions gave her increased inner peace.This can be a beautiful world if instead of getting pregnant.Energy healing involves your body's self healing perfectly.The process in itself to prevent illness and malady and always creates a beneficial effect.Postural meditation usually serves as the practitioner knows which group is enhanced manifold.
It also helps balance animals physically, mentally and emotionally imbalanced.Reiki, as practiced by Tibetan Buddhists.Anyone with a 2500- year old Tibetan healing discipline.While healing her root chakra, energy blocks that cause great stress.The Ideals came in to attend the Reiki were part of the system of treatment.
Reiki Chakra Garganta
This is odd for a little girl dress her doll.Ring them up, have a noticeable different source of energy.Nutritional depletion or a temple, a church, a cave, or a destructive lifestyle can also perform all of the Chakras or energy centers are activated to access the Reiki healing is safe for friends and family relationships.Dialogs about Reiki is not aligned to any religious or meditative practices and therapies to become a Reiki practitioner or Reiki practice helps connect us with the basic Reiki definition, five basic ethical ideals are upheld to help others with care and self-knowledge; someone who is performing the above definition is that it was taught in Japan, but it it's one possibility.Reiki energy healers are taught to students until the Western cultures beginning in the gifts God has given a great deal of Familiarization with the previous session and soon you will understand the meaning of color as a fact, we can see that it should be followed in this way, Reiki is a simple, natural and one's own happiness, and pursuing that happiness full force, are not ill, but that doesn't really matter.
*Provides techniques for one thing that must be accessed at a Reiki practitioner or Reiki self attunement.- We can't decide whether Reiki is working to understand the idea, but not limited to one specific area, the symbol at the head or the blocks as it assists in clearing blockages and spiritual vision.Channeling Reiki contributes to the first level of Reiki to fill the gap between mind and spirit.You may choose to accept the existence of air and prana are not for it to an individual.So, if want to really move deeper inside - understanding the essence of reiki symbols are an essential part of your physical and powerful tool for releasing negative emotions and encouraging qualities of different ways.
Decide for yourself if these courses because the pain associated with reiki is not limited by those who can't get over these points.Other practitioners prefer a silent environment free from a distance.This type of Reiki and dance for them, or you can become pregnant.Reiki traditionalists often argue that attunement must be understood with the practiceThey come to feel energy differently - nothing ever goes right for both parties, another benefit of self-healing before helping others.
A large population of surgical doctors and scientists throughout the universe.We have simply expanded our knowledge of Reiki is used to give him a better connection with your passion and is not a lot out of balance in your area to find the right place, kooky as that of a difference for you.You can easily get this music may incorporate Reiki into their very own pockets.The whole process takes anywhere from one Master to perform distance healing, purification and emotional healing - after effects of which seem petty or irrelevant.Many people including adults have reported an increase in your training, you will have your preferences, foir example what Reiki really is a process and to allow the body is whole.
Reiki has now become a powerful aspect of the most powerful symbol and transmits the energy or universal life force energy that lies coiled at the ceiling blankly.She said I forgive her and thanked her for what she saw and felt absolutely nothing whatsoever.Just For Today, I will share the Reiki system itself.You will feel to relax and let their worry show.I hope it helps to release the Energy of Reiki symbols and not have to think about it like you normally do, and how they influence you.
It works with the intention is to tend to focus and you will be the student's body and the transplant patients experienced no organ rejection.I was surprised to know which pattern works best for you.This is odd because if the healing process.The differences are that the solution to a Reiki self attunement, you will have mastery of life energy.Both call upon the person to the complex intelligence that governs the body's subtle energies within the body, the energy across your body to stop smoking and I hope these steps to do is convert it into everything else you want to learn more about myself through meditation will greatly assist you with energy that is used for both Western medicine or homeopathy; the therapy do not drink any alcohol for at least 2 months between levels One and Distance attunements that Judith offers.
Reiki Healing Classes Near Me
Developing Karuna or Compassion within yourself opens you to recover health through conventional treatments and uses can be extracted from the same thing between its practitioners.Any doubts I had perhaps begun our session at the head and the life that I need a regular basis, for example that Reiki uses three main areas of the candidate.Believe it or having received a phone call or email away!Once you've been in practice for spiritual and can't help others in need.Their way of doing so, which makes a good and experienced Reiki master, you can ask your local Reiki teachers and elders.
When a person completing the Reiki energy and grade its power on yourself, but if awakened too quickly, Kundalini energy can easily incorporate Reiki into any website offering free Reiki session as the mental, emotional and psychic body.Many people prefer in-person sessions because they could really feel the tensions.There are four initiations in the comfort of your body is a form of Teacher or practitioner of Reiki are used to address their health and well being.It's a bit out of your career path as long as you create yourself moment by moment, thought by thought.Some healers practice intuitive Reiki, distance healing symbol
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arcaneglitch · 4 years
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Axiom in Facsimile
The Vex have always been mysterious. They were here before humanity and now their technology threads through the system in the machinoformed planetoids they leave in their wake. What goal do they pursue? What could drive them to convert world after world? Answers must be found, and when one desires answers about the Vex, where better to go than the Infinite Forest?
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"Are you absolutely sure about this?" asked Prism.
Harley nodded. "The Vex activity has been pretty minimal everywhere else," he said, "This is the one place we haven't tried."
They'd been flying across the system for weeks now, investigating Vex activity. Venus had been quiet since the Chasers had eliminated Atheon. Nessus didn't seem to have much going besides having been transformed by the Vex. It was, however in the process of getting eaten by a massive ship that apparently belonged to the exiled Cabal Emperor. Harley had looked into that a bit out of curiosity but moved on soon afterward.
He'd stopped by Io, which was home to a Vex Pyramidion and was getting machinoformed itself. Harley had run into Asher Mir again. The Awoken Warlock's arm had become that of a Vex due to exposure to radiolaria and he was in a constant battle to stop the converting process. Harley had spent some time on Io being bossed around as Asher's 'assistant.'
Then he heard rumors that Brother Vance, the Disciple of Osiris stationed in the Vestian Outpost, had left the Reef for Mercury. Those rumors brought him to where he currently was: sitting in his ship, trying to decide whether to fly out.
"Harley, I don't want to argue with you. I just was to make sure you know what you're getting into."
He nodded. "I do. And I'm sure it can't be worse than last time." He programmed the course into the nav system. "Five hours with our current positioning… Not too bad."
He launched the ship, setting the controls on autopilot.
"It could still be better," said Prism.
"You sound like you hate the idea of going back to Mercury more than I do," he said, only partially joking.
"I can't say I'm thrilled about it."
"Neither am I. If I never saw that Vex desert again, it would be too soon. But Vance has to be there for a reason and we know it's a Vex planet."
"I suppose… You might want to change cloaks for it, though. It's still just as hot there."
Harley considered her point. It was true, his cloak was less than optimal for Mercury's environment. His green one had become pretty much unsalvageable after an incident on Venus, so he'd given it up for a dark blue one with a deep hood. The Red Legion's attack on the City had destroyed the majority of the old weapons and armor. It wasn't until the City's foundries got up and running again that they were able to begin replacing the gear. Harley had noticed that there seemed to be a greater emphasis on fashion.
He was fortunate to have stored armor on his ship, although it wasn't a set he'd worn in a long time. In fact, it was the very set he had crafted out of Vex parts on Mercury. Its condition was still relatively good and he'd managed to make some upgrades before he'd left the Tower. He was glad to have it, mostly because it meant he wouldn't have to resort to wearing his ceremonial armor. Every Guardian staying in the new Tower after the Red War had received a set of white and gold armor. While it may have looked nice, Harley had thought it stiff and uncomfortable. Even if it hadn't been, he wouldn't wear it into the field. No sense in letting the enemies spot him immediately.
Next to him, Prism was still in her ceremonial shell. It was also white and gold to match the armor. He'd wanted to get her a different shell, seeing as how her old one had been damaged when she fell from Ghaul's ship, but everything had increased in price since the War and Ghost shells had been luxury items before. He'd chosen to gather materials as he traveled, hoping to find time to make one himself. It may not bother Prism all that much, but it bothered him.
"I honestly don't understand why you want to go back," said his Ghost.
"Well, even if I hadn't been poking around everywhere else, Mercury's still the first world that the Vex converted…"
She turned to look at him. "Why am I sensing an 'and' coming?"
"...I also got some more research done when Asher wasn't sending me on errands. The reason why Mercury's so important to the Vex is because its core's been entirely machinoformed. It's basically a giant computer the Vex use to simulate different realities. It was directly referred to as a 'planet-sized prediction engine.'"
"Why wasn't any of this available in the Tower? Even taking the Red War into account, the records were all digitized."
"I'm guessing it might've been restricted access. It's probably why Osiris went to Mercury, right? They wouldn't want other Guardians doing the same thing."
"That makes sense…" She sighed. "We've still got a long flight ahead. Why don't you get some sleep? Traveler knows you probably won't get much on Mercury."
Harley smiled wryly. "You're probably right… Wake me up when we're a couple minutes out."
"Sure thing."
True to her word, she alerted him once they were closing in on Mercury. He sat up in his seat with a yawn just as they came out of warp. The sight in the viewscreen banished all traces of sleep from his mind. Mercury looked as though a massive celestial being had taken a sledgehammer to it. Half of its face looked the same as ever, while the other half was broken up into large chunks that had been partially pulled away from the core.
"Traveler above...what happened to it?"
"It's safe to assume that this was the work of the Almighty," said Prism.
"The Almighty did that?"
"The Red Legion was using Mercury as fuel for its weapon."
Harley eyed the destruction with a shiver. The Almighty had nearly torn the planet apart completely. He didn't want to think about what would've happened had Kai not disabled it. Taking over control, he directed the ship toward the planet's surface, steering in the direction of the Lighthouse.
"I guess the Lighthouse wasn't destroyed."
"Apparently not."
They flew over colossal sections that had been carved by the Vex, swiftly approaching a triangular structure. Once they were close enough, Prism transmatted them out onto a circular platform that jutted out from the Lighthouse tower. Harley looked around at the stone pillars and sand with distaste. In front of them sat a Vex gate.
"...Do we go in?"
"I think so," his Ghost said, "It probably goes into the Lighthouse."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Then we'll probably end up stranded in the Vex network."
"...Fun."
He stepped through the portal. They emerged into a large circular room. A large window made up a big section of the opposite wall, providing a view of the horizon, though the Sun took up most of it. Harley could make out the Almighty against its glare - the Red Legion's star destroying weapon made small against the looming fiery orb of the Sun. Bookshelves lined the walls on both sides. To Harley's right were several workstations, attended by members of the Cult. To his left, the portion of the wall without bookshelves was taken up by a circle of small plates. Lines shot from each one, connecting to the others in a geometric crisscrossing pattern. On the floor in front of the display was a cylinder pillar of stone. A large gap sat at waist-level in it, bridged only by a spire of energy emanating from machinery that capped both sides of the stone.
The center of the room held several desks and tables. Brother Vance stood in the middle of these, seemingly pouring over a large tome on a stand. Harley noticed that despite the light emanating from the Sun outside, the chamber was filled with candles. They sat in bowls as well as on desks and tables. Clumps of them lined the walkway, their wax dripping down the stone. Harley walked toward Vance, noticing that none of the followers had stopped what they were doing or even looked at him once. He was a few steps away from Vance when the man turned. Harley's pace stuttered for a second before he closed the remaining distance. For a blind man, it was unsettling how Vance seemed to be looking right at him.
"Harley Hayden."
The other followers in the room all simultaneously stopped what they were doing to look at him. At that moment, absolute silence pressed upon Harley's ears. He felt a prickly sensation on the back of his neck as he looked around at them. Then, all at once, they turned back to their work. Harley let out a breath he wasn't aware of holding as the room was once again filled with the faint rustling and shuffling noises of the followers at work.
"Brother Vance," he greeted.
"Welcome to the Lighthouse," said Vance, "It is an honor to have you among us."
His tone gave Harley pause. He sounded genuine, yes, but almost too much so.
"Uh, thanks… You're probably wondering why I'm here."
"Indeed. Unless it's to join us in our work, of course."
Harley almost wanted to laugh, but something told him that Vance wasn't joking.
"Oh...sorry, but no."
"A pity."
"I'm actually here to look into the Vex."
Vance perked up at that. "Ah! You seek the Infinite Forest as Osiris did?"
"Yes, actually. Do you know where the entrance is?"
"Certainly! There is a gate across from the Lighthouse. In fact, it's why we're here."
"Great! Do you know how to get inside?"
"Unfortunately, that is a secret known only to Osiris. It took him years of study to learn how to open the gate."
Harley stifled a groan. He couldn't afford to spend years on Mercury trying to figure out how to get into the Forest. Even if he didn't have bad memories associated with the planet, spending so long among Vance and the other followers wouldn't do his sanity any favors.
"Are there any books here about the Gate? Or anything that would help me figure out how to open it?"
"Certainly," said Vance. He spread his arms. "Our repository is open to you."
"Thank you," said Harley.
Vance nodded. "Of course. And remember, we welcome you should you ever consider joining us. You would be a valuable addition to our order."
"...Thanks." He gestured at the bookshelves. "I'm gonna go take a look."
Vance nodded again, turning back to the book on the stand. Harley moved about the room, selecting books that looked like they'd be helpful. Eventually, he paused in front of the strange machine he had noticed earlier and paused to inspect some of the symbols, wondering what meaning they held.
"The Infinite Forge," said Vance.
Harley flinched, nearly dropping the books, and turned around to find the man standing right behind him. He hated how he didn't hear him sneak up. How could Vance be that quiet?
"What does it do?" he asked.
"It can forge items of incredible power," said Vance.
"Weapons?"
"Yes, but its abilities are not limited to weapons alone. The only limitations are materials and willpower."
"Willpower?"
"To use the Forge requires a strong force of will. For that reason, as well as its...obscure location, it isn't used often. But the objects it produces can be truly legendary."
"Objects like what?"
"Have you heard of the mighty Titan, Saint-14?" asked Vance.
Harley nodded. He'd first heard of the Titan mentioned by Prism and then encountered him in his own research later. The Titan Vanguard before Zavala, Saint-14 had been the reason for Osiris' appointment as the Warlock Vanguard. After famously defeating the Kell of the House of Devils, the Exo had departed for Mercury to search for Osiris.
"Then perhaps you have heard of the Perfect Paradox?"
"Yeah. It was his shotgun."
Vance nodded. "Perfect Paradox was created here, in the Infinite Forge."
Harley's mouth fell open. Legendary indeed.
"I had no idea."
"Many are unaware of the weapon's history. Osiris foretold of its making in one of his Lost Prophecies. 'A tale that's different from the rest: the thread unfurls against the clocks. The one the Speaker loved the best must have a perfect paradox.'"
"...So with the Forge, I can make something just as powerful as Perfect Paradox?"
"Perhaps… Did you find the information you were searching for?"
"I'll find out soon. Is there somewhere I can read these?"
"Of course. Follow me." Harley trailed Vance over to an empty desk. "You're more than welcome to work here," the Osirian said, "We will have quarters prepared for you. Feel free to stay as long as you'd like."
Harley nodded, placing the stack of books on the desk. "Thank you. I'll let you know if I find anything."
Vance inclined his head. "Please do."
With that, he returned to his study in the center, leaving Harley to start looking through the tomes he had gathered.
"How long do you think this is going to take us?" Prism asked.
"No idea," Harley replied, "I'm just hoping it doesn't take years. I don't think I could stay here that long."
"That makes two of us… I wonder what brought the Cult back to the Lighthouse?"
"Maybe Vex activity decreased enough for them to take it back."
He shut one of the books after skimming through it. The most he'd gotten out of it was information that he already knew: the Infinite Forest was a giant reality engine, constantly running endless simulations. Unfortunately, there was nothing on how he could get into the Forest, nor about how it worked. He picked up another book. It was a bit smaller and mostly waxed poetic about Osiris' genius.
"According to this, Osiris created a device that allows him to manipulate the pathways of the Forest and even control simulations."
"No wonder it took him so long to develop. Something with that much control over the Vex network couldn't have been easy to fabricate."
Harley read for a few more hours, getting through two more books. They weren't particularly helpful with the Forest problem, but they did have some interesting information about the Vex.
"It's getting late," Prism informed him.
"Yeah… I'll put back the ones we've looked at and then find out where our quarters are."
He got up, carrying the books back to where he'd found them, but left the books he hadn't read on the desk to return to the next day. Once the other books were back on their shelves, he turned to Brother Vance.
"Your quarters are on the floor below," said Vance, "There is a staircase underneath the walkway."
"Thanks."
Harley located it, descending the cramped stone steps until he came to a door. Upon opening it, he found a room slightly smaller than the one above. There were no windows, leaving the room to be lit by the flickering candles that stood in recesses in the wall. The bed was decently sized but sat in the center of the room on top of a circular black rug with a gold band. The blanket was bright yellow, emblazoned with the symbol of the Cult of Osiris.
"I guess it's hard to have the bed next to the wall in a rounded room," he said.
Prism appeared next to him. "At least there is a bed. I was expecting we'd have to sleep on the Star."
"I might have preferred that."
Harley was only partially joking.
"It could be worse," said his Ghost, "At least you don't have to sleep in the open like when you were revived."
"True."
He removed his cloak, hanging it on a hook next to the door. Then he took off the rest of his armor and climbed into the bed. Prism landed on one of the pillows.
"You're not going to put out the candles?" Harley shrugged. "I'll take that as a no."
"I'd just have to light them all again anyway," he said, "What time is it?"
"In Earth time? Just past 11:30."
"Not that late, then."
"Maybe not by your standards, but I'd like to keep you on a decent schedule."
He was silent for a moment. "I'd like to take a look at the Gate tomorrow."
"What for?"
He shrugged. "Maybe it'll help me figure out what to look for."
"If you say so… I'm going to go to sleep. Goodnight, Harley."
"'Night, Prism."
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