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Moth gritted her teeth in a half-grin as she pulled the joystick in a small quarter circle. Her left-hand knuckles were strained white against the blacks and reds of the machine she’d been sitting in front of for about an hour. A small crowd of sophonts had gathered, witnessing her sweep the floor with her latest in a lengthy sequence of opponents. Moth thought she was hot shit, and nobody could prove her wrong.
In Moth’s best estimation, most of the players in the arcade were scrubs. The problem wasn’t that they didn’t know how to play the game (okay, well, a lot of them didn’t), but rather that they weren’t adaptable. In the majority of cases, Moth was able to win by playing defensively—block their incoming attack, then counter with a short combo. In the rare instances where one of them knew how to break her block, it wasn’t too hard to switch up. Moth’s next strategy was usually to preempt their attacks before pulling them into a throw, then combo off of that. Combos were the easy part; she had solid muscle memory on one or two of them by now. When their second strategy didn’t work, players tended to panic, and Moth could clinch a win by cutting through their flailing. She could tell that most of the arcade patrons hadn’t put much time into the game. And she'd already been at this for a few weeks.
On most stops at the arcade, Moth got bored of this after a few rounds. Her evening was free, though, and she was enjoying the attention. A little murmur of awe went up behind her as she input her special. A spate of short flicks, semi-circle, back, forward, heavy slash. A flurry of black and purple vines ensnared her helpless opponent and overtook the screen. It was over.
She sipped her water bottle as her character’s victory animation played. A free-flowing tangle of dark vines coalesced into a humanoid shape, which chided at her opponent: “You were a worthy fighter, but you’ll make an even better pet.” The character, Reed Helveticae, was the only affini in Luna Fera, a 2D fighter set in a lawless—and affiniless—alternate universe. Reed found herself cast into this parallel dimension while on a mission to subdue and rescue a fighter named Katherina, a catlike feralist with pyrokinetic powers. Lacking resources but ripe with determination, Reed took it upon herself to save every feral that she could. Moth thought Reed was a total badass. Playing as her made her feel tough, too.
She gave a subtle wave and a nod of thanks to the little dark brown rinan that hopped down from the other side of the cabinet and skulked away. Moth let out a big yawn, closing her eyes as she did. One more play, then she’d call it quits. She sighed with satisfaction after her yawn, looking back down at the screen. Someone had taken their place on the other side. She didn’t bother to get a look; she usually didn’t feel the need to size up her opponents. On the character select screen, Moth fiddled with the inputs to select Reed’s dark purple color palette, which was objectively the coolest one. Her opponent hovered over a couple of characters and then settled on… Katherina. Moth scoffed.
Moth understood Katherina was a good counter to Reed, which was obviously an intentional choice by the developers. Where Katherina had a few long-range attacks in the form of fireballs and artillery, Reed was a slightly slower character who needed proximity to deal damage effectively. Her opponent’s choice wasn’t ideal, but Moth wasn’t that concerned. She was on a winning streak.
The game’s announcer crackled through, sounding flat and distant in the din of the arcade: “Far from a caring world, these creatures can see nothing but conflict in their future. FIGHT!”
Moth twitched her stick right to close in. The best way to approach this matchup was by getting in quick and holding her opponent down. The other player, of course, had the opposite idea: a series of tiny, quick fireball projectiles chipped Moth’s healthbar and stagnated her progress. Well, that was fine; she could jump above them and get in, right? Moth dashed again, then flicked upwards—as she came near, a big plume of fire staggered her, followed by Katherina shooting out a whip of flame and yet more fireballs. Moth pulled back to nudge Reed to standing, then blocked a few incoming projectiles as she worked out what to do next. Her contender didn’t let the pressure up, and it was all Moth could do not to crack. She could still make that jump, she’d just need to time it better. She flicked to put herself over a fireball, then navigated in the air to land just short of the upward attack she’d seen before. In that split second, she realized she had no idea what to do next.
Before she had time to think, the Katherina player had grabbed her, thrown her straight up, then used a heavy attack in mid-air to slam her back down. She delivered a burst of quick slashes with her whip, then unleashed a special: a great spiral of flame lifted Reed into the air for a huge chunk of her healthbar. The whole thing happened in seconds. Then, the announcer:
“PERFECT!”
Moth hadn’t done any damage at all. The screen faded to black.
“ROUND 2!”
Moth’s hands were cold and clammy with sweat. Shit. She flicked forward to dash in, then, anticipating a fireball, she jumped and slammed down with her heavy slash, followed by one of her signature combos. There! She’d dealt a blow! She was so caught up in her satisfaction that she all but flinched as the stranger counterattacked, flinging Reed back to put distance between them again. Dammit. She’d need to do a lot more than that.
In the following seconds, Moth ground their teeth as they realized that they couldn’t do any more. She’d cracked the timing of her opponent’s projectiles, but quickly found that they were switching them up. The next time she’d managed to break through the barrage, she found that the upwards attack she’d been expecting was replaced by a downward sweep. Switching back to her aerial assault resulted in that same upwards blast of flame. It was like this stranger knew exactly what she was going to do next. Moth was a limp ragdoll being played by a masterful puppeteer. She let out a small groan as Katherina’s flame spiral ended the round once again. The small crowd behind Moth whispered amongst themselves in amusement before disbanding. She was washed.
On the victory screen, Katherina groomed herself with a smug expression.
“Go back to your garden, weed,” she taunted.
Moth stared dumbfounded for a moment as the game cut back to the title screen. She’d lost before, of course, but she’d never been overwhelmed that badly. A motion at the corner of her eye interrupted her thoughtless brooding. Her opponent was coming around to her end of the screen. She turned to look—and her breath caught.
It was an affini.
This plant didn’t take a humanoid shape like most of the ones Moth had met. They were a slithering mass of lime green leaves intertwined with lush hunter green stems and sprouts, more serpent than sophont. Along their slender back were lurid white flowers and cardinal-colored speckles. Unmistakably, a single poppy red orb could be seen half-obscured by the overgrowth, burning like Hades. Moth’s gaze met the glow. It’s beautiful was the only thought she could manage.
Then that orb narrowed into a slit, and the plant spoke in a low rumble.
“At least it was close, right?” At some point, a runner had risen up from beneath the affini’s body, undulating before Moth like a hand extended for a shake.
Moth accepted the tendril and shook, trying to keep her expression neutral. Was this plant fucking with her?
“Uh, good game,” Moth lurched.
The stranger’s eye slackened into a leer.
“Sure,” they said. Moth didn’t know anyone’s tone could be simultaneously flat and mocking.
The tendril vanished from Moth’s grasp and the affini wormed away before she could say another word. Dammit.
Moth glanced at her hand. Where she’d touched the stranger, there was an irritating sensation, like a light burn. She wiped her hand on her skirt. It didn’t really help.
She huffed, grabbed her bag, and walked home.
The next morning, Moth rolled over in bed. The affini at the arcade had bothered her enough to keep her wide awake for awhile. She wasn’t sure precisely how long she’d actually been up; she eventually got tired of being restless and took some compiled Class-Zs.
She was having trouble pinning down exactly what was bothering her about the day before. The stranger had been mean, which certainly caught her off-guard, but she could get over that. By now, she was used to admitting when an affini had her beat; it seemed that they knew just about everything. But it was one thing to defer to someone who knew more than you, Moth mused, and another to not be taken seriously.
She ran that thought through her mind a second time, and then shot up in bed. That was what was grating her about the incident. She was being mocked by this affini because they weren’t seeing her as a genuine threat. And that just couldn’t stand!
Except I’m not a genuine threat, she processed. She’d need to fix that first.
She picked up her tablet.
actias_lun4: hello dweep
actias_lun4: *dweeb
actias_lun4: i am in need off ur dweeb powers
greatgraywitch: How lovely to hear from you, Moth.
greatgraywitch: I am well today, and how are you?
actias_lun4: we live in heaven
actias_lun4: u are well every day
actias_lun4: but me?
actias_lun4: suffering.
greatgraywitch: Goodness.
actias_lun4: only a truly epic information wizard can help me …………..
actias_lun4: pretty pretty pleaase
greatgraywitch: How could I say no to such a gracious little insect in need?
greatgraywitch: You sure know how to scratch an ego, pretty girl.
greatgraywitch: But you don’t need to notify me every time you intend to visit the library.
Moth grinned at that.
actias_lun4: but i like u ;3
greatgraywitch: See you soon, Ms. Maunova.
Clarity took a sip of her tea and cocked an eyebrow at Moth.
“Losing sleep over a haunting affini,” she said. “You’re not thinking of becoming a floret, are you, dear?”
“For them?!” Moth protested. “The only thing I want to do is beat this affini at their own game.”
“The final words of many an independent,” Clarity tutted, fiddling with the collar at her neck as if to prove a point.
Moth grumbled and gulped down her coffee. Then they stuck their tongue out at Clarity.
“I bet you’d like that. I bet you’d like nothing more than to see me pacified and chained up at some affini’s heel.”
“As a matter of fact, I would,” said Clarity with a gentle smile. She sipped again, and the heat of the tea fogged up her round glasses. “I think it would be a rather flattering look on you.”
“Tough luck, perv,” Moth said. “I’m single and loving it.”
Clarity muffled a giggle with her hand.
“Onto business, darling. Why do you need my help?”
“’Cause you’ve got the resources to help me get cracked.”
“Cracked,” Clarity echoed vacantly.
“I wanna know how to get good at Luna Fera! And you have access to all the information in the universe, duh.”
Clarity stifled another giggle. Moth liked to make her smile.
Moth picked at some remaining sleep in her eyes as Clarity swiveled her chair to face her bulky monitor. Clarity had called it a “CRT” and spent several months nursing it back to a working condition under her affini’s supervision. There seemed to be several dozen cables and adapters laboring to interface it with the library’s computer system. Clarity liked her antiques, impracticality be damned. She clacked away at a yellowed mechanical keyboard, though Moth supposed it couldn’t be nearly as old.
“I certainly can recommend you some texts and weblinks on fighting game principles and guides to the game itself, but usually the way players,” Clarity coughed, as if trying to delay her next few words, “eh, ‘get good,’ is by competing against others.”
“I’ve played against plenty of sophonts,” Moth said.
“Competing against others at a similar skill level,” Clarity clarified. She was still gathering resources on her screen.
Moth’s fingers twitched.
“Okay,” they said, “how do I find them?”
As if on cue, the printer on Clarity’s counter whirred to life. It looked beat-up, but it couldn’t possibly be a genuine Terran antique. Moth knew the horror stories. The sheet of paper Clarity slid across to her had a graphic of the roster of Luna Fera in the center, Reed in focus, with her singular good eye and curling, singed vines. Just the still image gave Moth chills. So hard-boiled.
“The local community meets up biweekly in Better Jersey. It’s about a ten-minute ride by train,” Clarity said.
Along with what Clarity had already told her was the local’s address printed in black and red text, and the words “ALL SOPHONTS WELCOME.” At some point, Moth realized, her heartrate had sped up. Her legs were restless.
“Thank you, Clarity,” Moth exhaled.
“Happy to help, mon cheri. It’s rare I get to see you so serious about something.”
“I guess I’m serious,” said Moth, glancing down at her hand. She recalled the burning sensation from the day before. There was a score to settle, after all.
NEW CHARACTER PROFILES UNLOCKED
Moth Maunova, independent
she/they
A curious terran on the verge of biting off more than they can stomach. Smells like fresh soil and coffee grounds.
Clarity Aurantium, Third Floret
she/her
A soft-spoken information specialist with an interest in old Terran technology. Smells like bergamot and baby powder.
????? ????????, Second Bloom
???/???
Smells like curry and danger.