SF Labs Holiday Special - Valentine's Day 2026
“Hey Fab, what’re you doin?? You’ve been in here all day.” Scolden asked as he walked through the doorway into Fabrica’s room. He frowned at the sight of his sister in her gaming chair and her screen lighting up the room. “I thought we were supposed to be working on marketing this week.”
“I am.” She answered between clicks of her mouse. “I’m playing Genshin Impact.“
“Ew, Genshin? What’re you playing that for when we got REAL games like Monster Hunter WILDS!“
Fabrica scoffed. “Because we need more than just Monster Hunter and Genshin is MAD popular, Scolden.“
“Just Monster Hunter? What’s that ‘sposed to mean?! Monster Hunter is way more hype than this game.“
“Tell that to the people who pour hours AND dollars into this game. Those are the kinds of people we want backing us!“
“What’re they even paying for? I heard it’s just got a bunch of little kids and girly boys.”
Fabrica stopped what she was doing, placing her hands in her lap. “Really.” She said in a dark tone, glancing away from her monitor before she turned her gaming chair around to shoot an unamused grimace at Scolden.
“Yep.” He replied without skipping a beat. “Sounds lame to me..”
“Grab a seat, bozo. You need to learn.“
“Learn what? I don’t want to see girly stuff.”
“No balls.“ She fired back.
Her statement was super effective and Scolden let out a stern grunt. “Man.” He clenched his fists in frustration, wanting to decline her brazen offer. He looked at her and she looked back at him with a steely gaze. “Hrmph. Fine” Scolden conceded, walking away from his sister to grab a nearby beanbag chair and drag it over to Fabrica’s desk before he plopped himself down on it and folded his arms in bitter defeat. “Show me Genshin.“
Fabrica did a victory hairflip before spinning her chair back around to face the monitor. “ANYWAY, I’ve been in here for so long because I’m trying to catch up on the Inazuma Archon Quest. I’ve been grinding all week for Primogems so I can save up for a good 5-Star.“
“I don’t even know if those are real words.” Scolden said, slouching into the beanbag chair.
“So, Scolden. Didn’t you say you like… pirates?“
“YEAH.” He retorted, still sulking. “So what?”
“Sooo, I think I know who you’re gonna main on this game~“ She said with a whimsy in her tone.
“Main? I’m not playing this junk.”
“We’ll see about that.” Fabrica said, clicking away at her keyboard. “Ok, here we go. Cutscene.”
Scolden watched the Genshin Impact cutscene begin. It took place on some kind of a boat in the daytime. The main character, some blonde girl, was looking around at groups of men walking around carrying large boxes. She was accompanied by some kind of a flying baby that was hemming and hawing like there was something wonderful about manual labor. Scolden frowned, unimpressed. The camera panned out to show off the scale of the boat. It was definitely a big one, likely a galleon, but the dragon motif on the bow of the ship didn’t exactly scream pirate to him.The scene then went into the first person, with the protagonist blinking as they looked up at different parts of the boat. Sitting atop what looked like a beam for reeling in the anchor, there was another character. Some boy with white hair. “That’s a pirate?” Scolden asked, watching this new character greet the protagonist with a gentle wave. “He looks more like a lame Samurai.”
“Cuz he is, doofus.” Fabrica interjected. “And he’s not lame. Just watch.”
Just then, the camera went to be behind the main character and their sidekick as they looked up at another new character. A lone figure who stood with their back to the camera. Clad in crimson with dark hair cascading down from their head. The camera zoomed in on this character and they turned their head after letting out an inquisitive sound. The wind was whipping their hair back like a hero’s cape before they turned around to reveal themselves. It was a woman who was bright, bold and buxom. She wore a big red eyepatch that covered nearly half of her face as she peered down at the viewer. Placing a hand on her hip, the new character chuckled as if she could see Scolden lean up in his seat.
“Does THAT look like a little kid to you?“ Fabrica teased.
“Shh-Shhhsh! Holdup!“
“Jeez these cutscenes sure are long. I should just skip~“
“Nonono, wait-“ Scolden asked in frustration as the camera left her side to focus on the boat itself. Anchors were lifting and oars were rowing to build up anticipation of a new adventure beginning in the story. The camera panned out and Scolden could see a glimpse of the red dress. She was coming back! The camera zoomed in, moving toward the woman until it was right in her face to give Scolden a better look. The woman then let out a laugh and the wind whipped at her hair once more before it seemed to blow the camera away! The perspective pulled away and the red hot captain disappeared from Scolden’s sight as her mighty ship moved forward into the horizon, ending the cutscene. “Who was that??” Scolden asked, leaning forward in the beanbag chair.
“Oh, HER?” Fabrica asked with a smug grin. “I dunno, just some Genshin character. I wouldn’t worry about her. She’s lame~”
“Well SHE’S not lame! Tell me her name!”
“Nice rhyme, loser. How’s about you take back what you said.“
“Fine! Genshin’s not lame! Bring her back!”
“I can’t just bring her back, it’s a cutscene. And it’s over anyway.“
“Maan…“ Sculden slumped back into the beanbag chair.
“Well I guess it’s a good thing I pulled her.”
“What?“
“She’s a playable character, Scolden. Genshin uses a Gacha System. It’s like a lottery where you try to win the characters you want. That’s what it means to pull. But you wouldn’t know that since all you play is Monster Hunter..“ Fabrica explained, clicking away to bring up the character selection menu. She scrolled through her units until the familiar red was back on screen.
This got Scolden’s attention for sure. “There she is!” He called out, rising from the beanbag chair to point dramatically at Fabrica’s monitor.
“I told you.” Fabrica said, rolling her eyes. “I know you’ve never seen a woman before, but she’s nothing to really freak out about. She’s a 4-Star Unit who’s mid at best.”
“MID?” Scolden asked, turning to Fabrica with scorn in his eyes.
“U’fu-” Fabrica chuckled. “Someone’s attached~”
“You said she’s playable, right? What does she do?”
Fabrica toggled the UI to bring the character into a fighting stance, revealing her weapon. “She’s a Claymore type that uses the Electro Element. Hence the purple background.”
Scolden’s eyes lit up. “Thunder Great Sword… Sick.”
“Her whole thing is that she likes to parry. Hold your Element Skill and she enters a stance. If an enemy HITS you in that stance, you dish out a massive counter-attack with her sword.”
“YOOO! VALOR STYLE!!!” Sculden shouted before rushing toward Fabrica’s desk! He moved so quickly that he didn’t have time to think and instinctively pushed Fabrica’s chair to make way.
“Aauh!“ She shouted as his bumbling knocked her chair clean over!
“Yo what are the controls??!!“ Scolden asked, lurching over her keyboard and grabbing her mouse. He started clicking the mouse blindly, managing to exit the character detail menu. To his dismay, it was not the character that he wanted to play with. Instead, he saw the same girl from the cutscene. “What? I don’t want THAT. Where’s MY girl??”
“EW Get off my rig you Neanderthal!! You’re gonna ruin my keys with your fat fingers!“ Fabrica exclaimed as she got up from the floor and pulled on Scolden’s shoulder, ripping him away from her desk.
“Fabrica I NEED this!“ Scolden pleaded.
“You NEED to go download the game on your janky console!“
“Wait, it’s not just a PC game?“
“No. PC, Playstation and Mobile.” Fabrica said, placing herself between Scolden and her desk as she crossed her arms. “All Crossplay AND Cross Save.“
“Dang. Even Monster Hunter doesn’t have Cross Save…“
“And it also doesn’t have Megaton Leviathans dumping buckets of money into it, either.“
“Wait, so how are you playing it? We don’t have buckets to spend on a game! We’ve gotta get the DANGIT back up, remember?”
“Pssh. Scolden. First of all, I’m Free to Play! Hence the GRIND. And second, of COURSE I remember. Why do you think I’m making so many connections on this game and learning how the characters work? This is real R&D. Now, where was I…“
“Telling me the name of that pirate babe.”
“Ugh.” Fabrica rolled her eyes. “Her name’s Beidou. Pick up my chair and get out of my room.“
“Beidou…“ Scolden repeated. He was too star struck to combat his sister’s demand, picking the chair up and turning it toward her as he committed the name to memory.
“Yes.” Fabrica said, sitting down in the chair with an exasperated sigh. “Go download the game and get your own Beidou.” She then spun her chair back around to look at the monitor instead of him. “Mine’s not even leveled like that.“
“You said the game’s free?“ Scolden asked, holding his chin as he started to ponder playing Genshin.
“Only if you let it be.” Fabrica retorted.
“Bet.“ Scolden said, grinning as he cracked one of his knuckles. “BEIDOU!” He shouted, turning to the door. “I’M COMIIING!!!”
Fabrica pinched her nose. She didn’t want to look at Scolden anymore and the sound of his heavy footsteps was all she needed in the moment. Pulling for his new waifu was going to keep him out of her hair for a good while.
