Cat Flash

You can also listen to this track on Bandcamp as part of the album TONE!

Character Notes:

Ah, Erina. She’s just a sweet person. You’d never suspect she’s almost entirely driven by vengeance. I guess at least until that was until she met Obi. Now I almost feel like she’s a little yandere over her. (For reference, there has been talk at the table over her and Obi getting science babies through some questionable means so that they can always have a part of each other).

Here’s the backstory that she shared with us:

“A young student at Beacon Academy. She has long black hair with purple highlights and teal eyes. Being a Neko (catgirl) she also has feline ears on her head and a long black tail. She wears short purple and black travelers cloths outside of combat situations where she would be in leather armor. She is kind, helpful and if possible will put others before herself but if hurt will relentlessly seek revenge almost to the point of obsession.

“Erina is very agile and quick due to being feline and while decently intelligent she her curious and impulsive nature will cause her to do dumb things if she doesn’t pay attention (i.e. attacking something without using or finding a strategic location like a hill or chasing something not paying attention and falling into the water) She has a deep seeded hatred of Grimm steams from the loss of her brother when he was ambushed by some unknown Grimm and all that was left was his hand with the blue sapphire ring he always wore that was gifted to him by our late great grandmother. Erina wears that ring as a symbol of her love for him and the revenge against the Grimm for what the did. She uses a custom bow that can detach in the middle to become two blades that she calls Blue Shekina that she uses to destroy the Grimm.”

But most of the time, it really is her and Obi doting on each other. I mean, aside from whenever we get a lead on the Grimm that murdered her family.

I think her character color was supposed to be blue, but Obsidian’s is a dark purple (because having it be actual obsidian doesn’t work on black) and Nova’s is like a navy, I didn’t really want to give her another cool tone. Also, she didn’t remember what her color was when I asked her, so I made her color a yellow.

Fun fact: that yellow is based off of her last name (Sparkle) which she decided in the middle of one session because Teal described her as sparkling.

If Obi has that unorthodox big sis energy, Erina has that younger sister vibe where she’s really sweet but capable of committing war crimes.

Music Notes:

A shorter list of inspirations but all of them are from Touhou (w). Actually, this track has the honor of having the most instruments in the album. Incidentally, it was also the hardest to write.

I know I said Teal’s theme, Zephyr, took way too much effort, but time-wise, this track took the longest. I had so much trouble deciding how to look at it, how many sections it should have, and how many times each section should repeat, and how they should lead into each other.

It’s strange because I think it’s also the only track that I mentioned in-game, because this album is supposed to written in-character by Teal about each of this teammates. So I had in-character notes about this piece but they weren’t much to go off of.

The theme title is a reference to the fact that (1) she’s a cat faunus, (2) she can shapeshift into a cat, and (3) all her equipment falls off of her once she transforms, so when she shifts back, she’s naked.

Of course I also had to weave in a reference to Orin since Erina’s a cat girl too, but aside from that, I wanted some of that trickster energy. Erina’s pretty playful but she’s also a rogue, so there’s plenty of pick-pocketing. At the same time, Erina has a dark back story, so I wanted some room for a reflective section too. Seriously though, Mai is such a bitch to Yuki in Mystic Square.

Unfortunately, this might be my least favorite track of the album. I really wanted it to be more energetic and brassy. (Really, I just wanted ZUNpets…) It’s also a bit repetitive but what can you do. Ironically, I think this has a more engaging drum part then Obi’s theme which had a drum solo :v

Inspired by:

死体旅行　～　Be of Good Cheer (ZUN)

厄神様の通り道　～　Dark Road (ZUN)

禁断の魔法　～　Forbidden Magic (ZUN)