Rough day for a Hat Kid

Well, that was a hard-won Time Piece! – a thought spurred through the mind of Hat Kid, as she dropped another one into a stack. Count of Time Pieces went up one, showing the change on the screen.

“Well, I sure deserve a good naaaaaaa…” – sentence went unfinished, as her eyes followed Rumbi, still rolling on the floor, but for some reason, choking on something. A piece of paper that Hat Kid never seen before. Does this ship even have any paper anywhere? Well, except for the letter room… wait, letter?

Shocked, she immediately jumped to Rumbi, trying to grab a stuck piece and pull it off. But he persisted – even if he had to stop, he started to pull his own side, realizing there’s something out of place, now trying to suck in whatever got into his grasp! Hat Kid would have none of that. Holding the paper with one hand, she changed her hat with another, and as soon as she did, the alchemical concoction appeared, only to immediately being thrown at small robot! With beeping “Ouch” he let go of his side, dropped the pom mid-air, and then safely landed in a short distance.

“Bad, bad Rumbi! You can’t have my letters! Now go and do a clean-up somewhere else! Shoo!” – a little angry, Hat Kid waved her hands, shooing poor rumbi away. Finally, she got a chance to carefully inspect her catch. Giving it a little shake, Hat Kid took a closer look on a parchment.

Her eyes instantly filled with fear and awe. It wasn’t a letter. It was actually a bill on the whole damage she did while traversing Dead Bird Studio in an attempt to reach her Time Piece! It was hers, and now this is the price she has to pay for having it? What’s with DJ Grooves deal then?!

Eyes were jumping between beginning and ending of a list, trying to understand. It can’t be, it must be a mistake! Well, if it’s not a mistake, then maybe… She looked on a screen, showing her pom deposits. Barely a hundred poms. She didn’t even get any new badges for her hat yet! Or well… maybe one. Or two. But those were needed! And now… now she needs the same amount and several extra zeroes at the end to pay for the damage.

With a defeated look, kid fell down at her back, right on the floor, looking at a blue ceiling tiles. This amount would take FOREVER to save up from, and she has needs too! And so does her ship! She would be dying from starvation and lack of entertainment if she’s to pay for it. Unless… A dark thought sparked in her mind.

“Rob… the mafia?” – she whispered to herself.

No, that sounds far too grim, she thought. Sure, they aren’t good guys, but they are not that bad either. But… they already have so many riches. They won’t become any poor if I just get a little to pay off to birds… right?

These thoughts were burrowing in her head, not stopping even if she tried to wear a foil hat. If she just happened to have one, at least. It was a struggle… and one that was hard to win. Still somewhat unsure if what she does is right, Hat Kid sneakily went to the transportation room, to make a travel to Mafia Town…

 

By the time she returned, her spaceship already made several turns around a planet she was stuck around. Exhausted, almost out of breath, she walked to her TV and fell on a pillow lying there. She was running all over the town, kicking mafia guys and saving citizens, and then kicking Mafia again. Solving sneaky puzzles, breaking crates… even finding vault codes! That sure should have made a lot of poms. Through sheer strength of will, she turned her head to ship data screens, to see her pom count. Just a little over one thousand. It was sure much more than before…

Next moment, a loud desperate cry shook up the walls of spaceship, as Hat Kid’s eyes quickly welled up and she burst into tears.

“Nooooo! They gonna take my ship, and sell it for poms, and then I’ll be paying off debts, doing odd jobs for birds! Whyyyyyyyyyy??? I don’t wanna!…”

Through her crying, the phone started to ring in a distance. She didn’t hear it right away – her screams of sadness were pretty loud even for an old ringing device. With a loud sniff, Hat Kid tried to calm down. She washed away her tears, and then hurried her way to the phone. Well, as much of a hurry can make a dehydrated, tired kid after having hard shift and existential crisis. She did, however, manage to pick up the phone before it went silent.

“Y-yes?”

“Oh, darling, it is nice to hear your voice again!” – Grooves seemed in a good, even if a slightly worried, mood. – “I was afraid if anything happened to you, and you wouldn’t hold your part of bargain! Which I, of course, want you to hold, as I have done everything for you to do so! Speaking of which, it came to my attention that our studio mistakenly sent you the bill that I tore apart when we met. Please, darling, don’t worry about it. it’s just a piece of paper, and your debt is absolutely void! Consider it a payment for shining in my new movie as our main star! Besides, we don’t want our idol to have any dark stains in her past, aren’t we? Well, I’ll see you on stage, my darling!”

A phone call hung up, followed by long beeps were going through speaker. She had a bit of a predicament processing all this information now… peck, this day is sure full of weird events, from the start to this very moment. Let’s just hope that’s the last surprise to hear for now…

Question of Mortality

“Hey dad”, Bifira leaned towards a coach, looking at the yellow fox.
Synaly was looking into newspaper, though not like there was anything new in it. Truth be told, it was actually a pretty old newspaper, pages yellow of age and visually easy to get destroyed from inaccurate touch. He looked aside on his daughter, raising his eyebrow.
“What is it, kid? Something bothers you?”
“Well, not really. But I have a question that just suddenly struck me”, she sat near her father, flames on top of her head colored in silver. So pure that color nearly felt like a true white. “Knowing that you are immortal… how do you feel about it? About life, finity of it, and how your state in this world totally bypasses that. How it goes from your perspective?”
“Wow, and with Silver Blaze of all things?” he chuckled, looking at her with smile.
“Well, feeling pretty silver today, of all times. So, will you answer?”
“Hmmm…” papers in his hands just dissapeared, and he dropped on his back, looking up, with face full of thoughts. “That is not an easy question. I am indeed, unconditionally immortal. I can create some artifacts that can kill me, technically. Some of such artifacts may already exist, though achieving true death wouldn’t be a simple task for me. Your life is technically finite, though extended through infinite cycle of reincarnations for purpose that I’d not outlive you. And now I think, why I say all this? Because I pretty much made you mortal, while never applying that ability to myself. Mortality… is an interesting thing. Any individual have only so much time on this plane of reality, and all that time belongs solely to that singular individual. Does his life matters from my point of view on any point of his development? Be it his birth or death? Well, not really. I’ll outlive any failure or success of any mortal, no matter for how long their action will echo in time and space in a singular reality plane. Why do I care about that life, however?”
He gave it a big “Hmmm” and raised his index finger, drawing circle in the air. As his finger moved, reality around it started to warp, creating small-scale cosmic shapes – small stars, planetary objects, all simply floating around.
“I was also mortal, once. There was so much I wanted to do that I simply no time of what purpose it all carries. Truth be told, back then I just wanted to be happy, but at the same time, didn’t quite had an idea what that happiness would be. There was no real way to acknowledge what happiness is, how to achieve it and live with it for the rest of my life. It was all until I became immortal. With loss of mortality, I gained all the time in all of reality. Abilities to create whatever I’d see fit. I can simply bend the world to my wishes. And I did. Did that made me happy though? Definitely not. Yeah, it had that spark. Sense of euphoria, living in a perfect world that would provide me with everything I want. It didn’t lasted as long as I’d live. I don’t think it would even last as long as actual human life. Though, maybe if you didn’t knew anything better or worse, it would work out? Ignorance is a blessing, as some may say. Ignorance that you denied by asking that question”.
He looked at Bifira. Her face was, however, stayed unchanged. She basically looked on his face with that look of very attentive student, writing down every word of his teacher. Synaly shook his head, rolling his eyes.
“Mortality is interesting topic, since everyone in specific can decide what way of life they want to forgo. It is always a way of entertainment, in some way, even if all that fun will vanish one day together with you, as last spark of your mind vanishes in embrace of nothingness. First creature creates first entertainment for itself inside imperfect world, leaves offspring, which uses that enterprise to create a new one, and so on and so on. As population grows, everyone starts to look for new ways to entertain themselves, or goes old ways. That’s basically how generations progress, changing one after another. Some find their happiness at the bottom of liquor, just as many of their ancestors once did. Some try to understand that world. And some… create new entertainments for future generations, through science or just pure fun. What of me? Well… for myself, I find it entertaining to watch how that process goes, over and over. You’ll be surprised by how many variables there are in it. Each time a new plane takes turn after one that managed to exhaust itself, a cycle never truly repeats. No matter how I tinker with wheels of creation, it’s never the same, yet never way too different. I find it interesting to look into smaller details. Something that keeps me feeling alive even after so many eons. Even when I just stay here, as another wheel in this already perfectly working mechanism. Though I should say… my curiosity tend to often get better of me. Which is why I tend to advert some of catastrophes that can’t be actually adverted by anyone but me. Even when some of them tend to be a byproduct of my own actions. Which… also tends to push me off the cliff, where I want to just stop it. And so there’s you, to not let me do that. Did I answer your question?”
“Quite… loosely, and direct answer is clearly got lost somewhere in the context”, Bifira gave a smirk, as her flames disappeared. “But hey. I love you too, dad.”
After these words, he leaned to him, giving an old fox a big, warm hug. He smiled and put his hand on her head, gently stroking her hair.
“…I can’t believe you really fell for that” she snorted into his shirt.
Oh no. And then room filled with laugher of a fox, trapped between coach and a girl, tickling him restlessly.

Synaly’s Reviews: Hollow Knight

Hello folks! Sure I’ve been slacking on content for this place! I do have an excuse though – I’ve been working on that very content, and that work required me to play a little game. You name it – Hollow Knight.

It was a recent purchase that I’ve made – all together with OST expansion. And basically, by making that purchase I’ve been stepping into dark waters – I knew almost nothing of the game except a small part of the stream I’ve seen on my friend’s channel, some arts and few recommendations from friends of how good this game is (and how my laptop won’t run it). I risked it, and you know what? I am not disappointed. And now let me explain why, as I dive into memories of playing it!

Illustration by KetrinDarkDragon
https://twitter.com/ketartdragon
https://ketrindarkdragon.deviantart.com/

Calamitas’ New Year (Calamity mod)

– …care to explain to me what are you doing, Calamitas?

Yharim looked at the witch, standing near the door to her room. His mechanical eye had been looking around, as his body augmentations were analyzing the strange decorations of Calamitas’ room.

At that time, she stayed near a huge green festive tree, putting little toys on it. All of her walls were decorated with colorful elements paper snowflakes, and enchanted small light bulbs of colors constantly changing. Hearing the voice of the Jungle Tyrant, she calmly turned to him and gave him a plain smile.

The Leviathan’s Trilogy (Calamity mod)

Illustration by KetrinDarkDragon
https://twitter.com/ketartdragon
https://ketrindarkdragon.deviantart.com/

It’s always the darkest of depths that keep the world’s darkest secrets. Secrets that were  made to be out of the reach of commoners. That are not to be seen. But sometimes, those secrets find their way to the surface. And it’s not always just something that someone wants to be hidden that emerges, but rather, something the world itself wants to contain. And if the world wants to keep it as deep as it is, then how great of a danger that secret can be?

Happy New Year!

This place marks a fresh start for me, as it is brand new. There’s not much to conclude for it as well due to that. But nonetheless – I wish you good holidays everyone, and Happy New Year!