#umaxhsr

[mdhwrites]

UmaxHSR: Vega/Admire

Each night, like clockwork, Asta would leave the grand telescope she had pointed to the stars for her own work to find a shadow. A young woman waiting for her chance to commune with the stars above. They were a quiet girl and any attempt from Asta to get her to open up had failed. She seemed far more interested in the stars than she had ever been in those around her, a feeling many of the researchers could have celebrated with her but instead she appeared to prefer her own routine of silence and solace.

Which made her absence tonight a shock.

"Fifty six seconds. That's what I heard."

Ruan Mei didn't even look up from her data pad. She asked no questions for she had her answers. The girl's arrival was hardly even a shock as many had come to her before for things like this. And just as she said to all of them, Ruan Mei's response was, "No."

The young woman's eyes narrowed as she stepped closer to the genius. "Is the price too high?"

"No."

"Do I need to retrieve anything?"

"No."

"Then why only what you want back?"

Ruan Mei paused for a second before she looked to the girl. Pale, purple eyes stared at her, waiting for the answer she wanted. It was the same sort of ferocity and cold that reminded her of when she was quite young. A madness few things could inspire like the hope for life.

And there was no reason for her to waste her time on madness. "It is late. I'm going to bed."

A cold refusal instead of even a chance. Just as she had been told. The young girl shut her eyes and then turned around. A pair of yellow eyes stared at her from the shadows before a slightly bemused woman from the dark said, "So what shall we call you?"

"Ayabe."

===== (skip to the next one of these for the rest of her story/concept. Also, reminder that these are not meant to be balanced, they're meant to reflect them theoretically)

A member of the path of Remembrance, Vega, otherwise known as Ayabe seeks a chance to finally make up for her original sin. To fix the fact that every memory she has is wrong. Until she fixes their mistake, she will not rest, not until the stars go out.

Basic attack: Vega refuses to attack. Gain two skill points instead.

Skill: Reduce Vega's health by 50% of her max HP to summon her Memosprite Sin.

Enhanced Basic: Vega uses part of her HP to deal heavy damage to a single target.

Ultimate: Vega loses 100% of her health to deal severe damage to a single target.

Talent: While Sin is on the field, Vega's health cannot go up. If Sin were to take damage, Vega takes the damage instead. For each percentage of her health that is missing, increase Vega's damage. If Vega were to go down, transform her into Vega into Admire.

=====

Admire didn't know the world. She only knew darkness and one other. A single sister who she held onto as tightly as she could. She imagined so many things while holding onto her dearest sister. Of the friends they would make. Of the races they would run. Of the life they would live.

But her grip was weak. She could cling but when she did, she heard laughter. A laughter that felt wrong. It wasn't from her and it wasn't from her sister. It was distracting and made her cling ever tighter to her sister. But amongst the laughter, she felt something was wrong. Her grip was tight and tightening more and more by the moment.

Until she realized that as she grew stronger, her sister grew weaker. That if she continued to cling, all those dreams... No. She couldn't do that. Not when the brightest part of those dreams was the smile on her sister's face.

But when she let go, she drifted away. Farther and farther until finally, a smile was all she could see. The same smile that had laughed at her before and now said, "That joke was so funny that we can't simply let it end, can we? Just say yes and I promise you'll see your sister again."

And so she gets to watch her sister, forever whispering jokes and joy into her ear until the day she no longer needs the help to smile. It's the closest she can come to making her dreams come true. And if anything stops those dreams from coming true, she'll make sure the joke between her and that old smile keeps going.

=====

Admire is a path of Elation. Always wearing a smile and racing around, she wishes to live life to the fullest. To have the most friends, race into the most trouble and make her dreams come true. Any friends she makes lament about her vanishing and even if they do find her, they're treated coldly, as if they were strangers. Does she have a twin?

Basic Attack: Admire doesn't attack but instead enjoys the excitement of the moment, gaining ten punchline for the team and healing herself and teammates for a portion of her HP.

Skill: Admire uses her skill to increase her HP and advance Aha by a certain amount. This skill does not end her turn.

Elation Skill: Drains the health of each other character before doing a bounce attack per character she drained from. For each Memosprite she drained from, increase the bounce amount by a certain amount.

Ultimate: Heal Admire for 100% of her health before targeting a Memosprite

Talent: Admire gains X Certified Banger each time Vega loses HP, equivalent to the percentage of HP lost by Vega. While Vega has Certified Banger, ally characters gain increased crit damage for each point. When Admire gets to 100% HP, transform her into Vega and give Vega crit damage for each point of certified banger she had when she transformed.

=====

A silly idea I'd had for a while to somehow do their dichotomy but not do it like Helios and Palmer where I split them up into two characters. It's also just one of those wilder possibilities gameplay wise to consider. How can you do a character who is of multiple paths? Though I tried to make it so that they're both still aimed towards the health loss that Remembrance has leaned most towards.

I had hoped to instead publish a full blown HSRxUma story today to help in celebrating the anniversary but I realized a little too late to manage it, alongside life getting in the way. ^^; Hopefully I'll have that crossover ready before the end of the patch so look forward to that! Also, if you have ideas you want to pitch, my asks are open for a reason! I hope you all have a lovely day and see you next tale!

[mdhwrites]

HSRxUma: The Two Kilobyte Flower

In a world of strict hegemony like Punklord, a kind heart is a liability as much as it's something to nurture. Without a high level on your cartridge, you are simply asking to be snapped up by someone bigger than you and then to fade away amongst the rest of the NPCs. The heads of the Nishino Family didn't need to worry about this. With their warm repute and high levels, no one even desired to step on the mighty oaks in the gaming world, not when their vendors and auction houses saw to it that noobs would have something decent on them when you beat them. For two such planatary giants, getting authorization to have a child would be easy. To guarantee them the kindness and strength they desired for them would even be possible with the right bribes.

But when a factory malfunction happens, how can the kindhearted look upon their child and ask for another one?

Her level was glitched out as there wasn't even enough information on her cartridge with which to determine a level for her. Two kilobytes of storage. That's all she had. When even a game of Pong on Punklord took quettabytes of data, how was she supposed to exist like this? With her past and identity constantly being rewritten and erased? In a land of data, would she even be able to grow or would eventually even the storage required for her smile be too much and it would simply vanish from existence?

Until that day came though, her parents couldn't do it themselves. Even when offered for their little Flower to be erased and replaced for free, they refused. Not when one look at her warm face, so unafraid and unconcerned, melted their fears away.

She lived a sheltered life, protected from the games and tricks that everyone outside the estate played. She learned many skills and was endlessly pushing herself, even as her parents kept wondering when she'd hit her limit. She had no talent for hacking and was abysmal at games and her essentially negative level meant that even summoning in game items was impossible so she couldn't have the sorts of weapons and powers that others did. When in a race, how is someone who's own skills are doomed to be erased supposed to win against an Iron Giant? What could they do for their daughter while those around her flew to the end?

And yet she did. This filled her parents' hearts with hope.

Then she grew her first flower. One mixed of data and reality.

This told them what they could do.

=====

Ding! "Ah, welcome to Eversummer Florist! How can I help you today?" The Achievement Hunter didn't answer. He didn't like to be on this backwater in the first place. It was too cold and too low tech for someone like him. The IPC had had a bounty on the 'Cyber Flower' technology for a while now though and it had kept racking up points. Leads said somewhere here was where he could find it and the lost heir to the Nishino Foundation. Man, the amount of score he'd get finally returning their dead daughter back from the grave made his mouth salivate. He could even see the proof he needed in front of him. A budding, yellow sunflower with petals that flowed with data.

He winked at it and then paused. Why didn't the picture take. All he saw was black from the photo his eye augmentation should have taken? What the &%$@! was going...

"Ah, yeah, that happens sometimes. Flower keeps a fake out front here to mess with people. It has too much security to even let pictures get taken of it. If you want, I can lead you into the back where she keeps the real ones."

The achievement hunter turned and frowned. Was the florist always so short? Eh, it didn't matter. Nothing in this dump could even try to hurt him so why should he worry. "Alright. Lead the way."

The boyish looking girl slipped her hands behind her head, stretching her arms as she did before leading him towards the backdoor, her white tail swishing behind her. With a kick, she popped it open before holding it in place with her foot. She then nodded for him to head in where a whole treasure trove of flowers that bled into cyberspace awaited for him.

And all began moving towards him as the fool didn't see the white cat mask slipping onto the 'florist's' face.

=====

Ding!

"Vaska, I'm back!" Flower slipped inside and bowed to her employer before looking up to the rafters when she noticed a white tail. "Ah, Seiun! I didn't know you were coming by today. I would have cleared a spot next to the window for you."

Seiun shrugged a little before saying, "Eh, don't worry about it. I was just chilling here honestly. Sometimes it's nice to be out of the way."

Vaska rolled her eyes before mumbling, "That is certainly a nice change of pace."

Flower giggled at the teasing before she paused and looked to the plants around her. They were radiant and beautiful as always but, "Vaska, was there a problem with my flowers? I know sometimes they can weird people out a little but to put them all away where they can't get sun? Even the sunflower?"

She just got a shaken head at that though and an explanation that when she had to go check on some weird noises behind the store and left Seiun alone, they all vanished. Seiun claimed innocence to having done anything and yet the lazy girl was all too happy to check the back for them and bring them back out. Not that Flower asked any questions. She was just happy for the help from her foolish friend who had been there with her for as long as she could remember.

======+++++======

Okay, part two as always, what do I think mechanically! Because I like to pitch thematically/personality appropriate kits with these blogs though a reminder that they are not meant to be balanced, just something inspired by the story/character of the uma. For Flower, we have a Follow Up Abundance character!

Basic attack would apply a certain amount of Bud to an ally and herself, rather than attacking. Skill meanwhile would create a three turn field called 'Flower Patch' where her allies all gain Bud when they attack, with her talent making it so that whenever an ally gains bud, they and everyone else growing restore health and gain a percentage of max health. Each stack of Bud also gives some sort of damage boost until it reaches a certain limit. At that point, Bud turns into Bloom, turning into a three turn buff that is equivalent to max stacks, resetting their stacks of Bud and having Flower unleash a Follow Up attack upon the character that her ally last attacked as suddenly she becomes a thorn instead of the sweet girl who wouldn't hurt a fly. This Follow Up would also definitely give a party wide heal. In keeping with her surprise bursts of power, her ultimate would probably not be an attack but instead give a speed buff to all allies, provide a heal and increase their Bud by a certain amount.

A fairly simple kit and close to Luocha's but with a follow up focus, but I like it for the girl who is always helpful, always sweet and with a goal of pushing people forward but not toothless like you'd expect of someone like her. After all, Flower can't be relying entirely on her allies. She wouldn't want that anyways, not unless she know she can't do it and Flower would be the last to say she can't defend herself, even if Seiun might have opinions on that.

Anyways, I am hopefully not going to feel like I messed up too badly on this playing Flower's career later today. XD And yes, this was absolutely inspired by the delightful meme made Czeko on X! I hope you all have a lovely day and see you next tale.

[mdhwrites]

HSRxUma: Daitaku Helios and Mejiro Palmer

Around the streets of Planarcadia, there is often sited one creature that is the topic of much debate. Some argue that she clearly has zero brain cells and thus must be an imagenae! Others claim that she gives wishpower through her cheers and excitement in a way that an imagenae never would so she must just be another uma. Some say that even if she's unlicensed, that doesn't mean she isn't an imagenae so that's just proof you have to throw out the door.

Only one person knows the truth behind "WEI!"

Mejiro Palmer. The black sheep of the Mejiro Family. As members of The Family, they are practitioners of the Harmony, inspiring others through their performances on the track and helping those in need through their connections in high society. Palmer has neither of these things. She isn't controlled enough to be paraded from planet to planet like McQueen, or inspiring enough to become a role model like Ryan or good enough to let her record speak for itself. Instead, she was told to be quiet, out of the way and enjoy herself on Planarcadia. There, she found inspiration and drew herself a sun.

Thus Helios was born. If she wasn't a Mejiro, then she would dream of what she could be unrestrained by her last name. Dream of the loud, dumb gyaru that the matriarchs of The Family saw her as. At least then she'd have a friend. And yet, those desires to be with her sisters, to be someone they can be proud of, even leaked into her creation. At least, that's the best guess Palmer has as to why Helios won't stop bothering the IPC representative, assistant to one of the Stonehearts, Ruby.

========

This one feels a little more dangerous to do since it's tackling two uma we don't have properly in the game yet. Like I worry about doing characters I own but haven't done their careers for yet so this... This is me trying my best. ^^;

GAMEPLAY IDEAS! (Reminder: These are meant to emphasize character over being good and/or balanced)

Helios would be the only actual playable of the two, with Palmer being closer to a Siobhan as an elevated NPC. This is in part to solve the fact that they're so close in running style and temperament that my normal methods for coming up with kits would have them tripping over each other. Heck, because of their 'Extreme Front Running' style, you can also imagine that this applies to a Twin Turbo kit to some extent to.

So how would I translate that? Well, essentially through the Bakarima Kinen. Helios never minds being second place to Palmer, forever cheering her on, so she's a Harmony! A Harmony that turns your main DPS into a Mydei. All out, no matter what. Your main DPS is put on auto, consumes an extra skill point using their skill for increased damage and penetration using it, and gains a speed buff while Helios is supporting them. Helios also has to use a skill point to keep in range to cheer them on though but their skill use now charges energy and gives some amount of action advance, once again on auto. If at any point you hit one of their turns without enough skill points, they both get knocked out of the state and get hit with Strong Reverberations to represent them running out stamina and getting knocked out of the race because of it.

Her ultimate would probably be her putting on a performance to pump up the team and the crowd before regaining skill points for the team which yes just makes her a pretty big Sparkle power creep character as far as kit goes. This could even be doubled down on by instead of going Harmony to fit with the backstory I gave and representing Palmer's desire to be something her family is proud of, you could lean into instead this being an incarnation of Palmer's desires and make her Elation. In that case, I'd have her elation skill be to pump up the crowd and get two skill points back while her ultimate actually gives her an outfit change as she goes into her ballroom outfit, enhancing her buffs for a limited time and also taking away her skill point requirement each turn so long as she's in this enhanced state. Show her cleaning up for the gal she thinks she should be with, rather than the one she's destined for. (HELIOPALMER FOR LIFE!)

Btw, for anyone curious why this is now three of the four umaxhsr kits I've made that is skill point related, it's because it's REALLY good for reflecting the persistence and effort of Uma. Many of these girls have stories about going beyond your limits and putting everything you have into making your dreams come true and being able to pump resources into them just makes a lot of sense for that. it's actually why it's fitting to me that Rice is the one so far without it because as a Stayer, she is naturally the best at managing her stamina.

Also, admittedly, it's an area of game design I don't think Star Rail has explored too much and I'd like to see them do more with it, even if I understand a lot of the reasons why it's more niche. We'll see what happens this year though! See you all next tale!