Squigly (Canon)

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Sienna Contiello, more commonly known as **Squigly** (JP: スクィグリー), is an undead girl, kept sentient thanks to her family's Parasite, Leviathan. Her parents were Roberto and Selene, the latter of whom was a previous Skullgirl.

## General Information

Squigly is a DLC character for *Skullgirls Encore*. Although she was initially included in the character roster of *Skullgirls*, she was replaced by Valentine due to Lab Zero wanting to have a playable villain during the game's release.

Because Lab Zero Games reached their requested donations for Squigly, she had been a free DLC character for all to acquire for a limited amount of time (the first 3 months after her release), but since has been added to the store for purchase.

### Personality

Squigly is graceful, calm and well-mannered, but tough and determined to complete her mission. Her past experience with a Skullgirl gives her a unique perspective and a greater understanding of the situation over most.

## Backstory

Squigly is the last "surviving" member of the Contiellos, a famous line of opera singers and long-time clients of the Medici family.

Fourteen years ago, tragedy befell Squigly’s family when the Medici Mafia came close to obtaining the Skull Heart. Lorenzo's top assassin, Black Dahlia, was ordered to murder Squigly and her parents by the Mafia - the very people who seemed to be some of their family's closest allies. It was during this incident that she became one of the Skullgirl's undead minions. Once the threat had been defeated, only Squigly’s body was recovered, and she was buried in a service provided by himself.

Squigly was not resurrected during Queen Renoir's transformation into a Skullgirl, as the Queen was currently in another land at the time and her powers did not extend back to the Canopy Kingdom's dead-and-buried.

Fast forward to the present: Bloody Marie's emergence has awoken Squigly from her long sleep. As part of the Skullgirl’s undead legion, Squigly should have become nothing more than a mindless servant of the pale maiden. However, thanks to the powers of her Parasite, Leviathan, she is spared this fate.

Having been passed through the Contiello family for generations, Leviathan is refined and dotes on Squigly like her father and previous host did. This long familial history has made Squigly's bond with Leviathan deeper and more fundamental than that of most Parasites, and allows them to work harmoniously both in and out of battle like synchronized dance partners. Their unique circumstance also seems to have given them abilities beyond this world, as well.

## Character Basis

### Origin

Squigly is essentially a zombie, often referred to as being merely a corpse, who becomes animated thanks to the power of the Skullgirl. However, unlike most undead, being host to Leviathan has allowed her to retain her own thoughts and personality. Some of her movements in-game even reference the jiangshi, the Chinese "hopping" zombie/vampire.

### Name

Her full name is *Sienna Contiello*. *Sienna* is an Italian name derived from the city of Siena and also refers to an earthy pigment, one of the first used by humans in cave paintings. *Contiello* is possibly a variant of the surname *Conti*, derived from the Italian word "conte", meaning "count".

She is more commonly known by her nickname *Squigly*, which is presumably derived from the word "squiggle" and refers to the appearance of Leviathan sticking out of her head resembling that of a worm.

Leviathan and her mother are shown calling Squigly by her nickname, although the former also occasionally addresses her as "milady". Throughout the game, most characters assume she is one of the Skullgirl's undead minions and refer to her as such or derisively as a "corpse". Big Band is one of the few who addresses her by her name, "Sienna".

Early concepts show that her full name was formerly *Sienna Quinton Cishan Contiello*; *Quinton* means either "born fifth" or "queen's settlement", while *Cishan* is likely derived from the Cishan culture, a Neolithic culture based by the Yellow River in northern China. This was presumably to reflect a long lineage with Dragon Empire ties and Squigly's use of martial arts, but both middle names and background have since been removed.

### Design

Leviathan goes through Squigly's right ear and out of a hole on the left side of her head. This suggests that the hole on the left side of her head is the bullet hole caused by Black Dahlia at the time of Squigly's murder. This is contradicted however in the CG depicting Black Dahlia shooting her on what appears to by the right side of her head, not the left; the hole on the left side would most likely be the exit wound.

## Story

After reawakening in New Meridian, Squigly sees Marie attacking an airship containing a fleeing Lorenzo Medici with part of a building. Her musings on Marie's apparent desire to protect the innocent bystanders while focusing her rage on the Medici Mafia were interrupted by the arrival of Parasoul and the Black Egrets, who (somewhat correctly) identified her as one of the Skullgirl's minions. After fighting Parasoul off, Squigly fled the scene, but not before using an apparition-like copy of herself to suggest that the Canopy Kingdom princess focus her attention on Marie and her active minions.

After making her escape, Squigly noted that her powers seemed to have become stronger since she last used them, which Leviathan admitted was a sign of his imperfect ability to block the Skull Heart's influence. Squigly assured her Parasite that he was doing an admirable job by simply allowing her to live after death, but then discovered - much to her horror - that someone had sewn her mouth shut during her "sleep". Realizing that the Medicis were to blame, Squigly and Leviathan set off to find Lorenzo and exact vengeance for the insult.

### Ending

After defeating the Skullgirl, Double ambushes Squigly from behind. Fortunately, Filia and Samson come to their rescue, preventing her death. After Squigly and Filia decide to work together and team up against Double, Double warns Squigly that Filia is a Medici. Despite Squigly's dislike for the Medici Mafia, she decides that Filia's actions will speak for her instead.

After the fight with Double, it is revealed that Double was the person to give Selene, Squigly's mother, the Skull Heart, causing the sudden deep hatred between the Contiellos and Medicis. Although Lorenzo never claimed the Skull Heart, he made sure all Contiellos were 'silenced' (also symbolized by Squigly's mouth being sewn shut). After this realization, Squigly destroys Double and the Skull Heart. After her mission was completed, Squigly returned to rest with Leviathan, the two of which had become inseparable, to reawaken with the return of the next Skull Girl.

After the credits, a short scene appears showing Filia and Samson putting flowers on Squigly's and Leviathan's grave, marked with 'May they rest in peace until we meet again'.

## Abilities & Fighting Style

She and/or Leviathan use long-range attacks to prevent close range combat. However, their mid-air attacks are quite limited and short-ranged and need to be timed correctly. Most of her ground attacks while squatting are very slow and easy to be seen and spotted at any distance on the screen but each hit does massive damage. Whereas Filia and Samson have limited cooperation in the attacks, Squigly and Leviathan synchronize their attacks to move fluently.

Squigly uses her voice (with the assistance from Leviathan) in battle to not only have the screen focus her and drag opponents towards her for her advantage, but also to produce a big projectile that resembles a musical note to deliver damage. She can also charge her moves with stances so they can become more damaging or last longer. The stances can be canceled into different atttacks to throw opponents off their guard.

Like Filia, Squigly does very little of any actual fighting, merely acting as a vector for Leviathan to lash out with his attacks.

## Trivia

* Squigly's "The Silver Chord" special move is a reference to Scorpion's signature spear attack from the Mortal Kombat

 series, as she and Leviathan say "Get over here!" as well as Leviathan
occasionally shouting "Come here!" while executing the move.

* Squigly's "Draugen Punch" special move is a reference to the Shoryuken, an uppercut special move originating from the Street Fighter series used by Ryu, Ken, and other fighters in the series with the Ansatsuken (or Shotokan, as it is commonly called) fighting style.
	+ Not only is "Draugen Punch" a pun, but the word "draugen" is a type of undead from Norse mythology.