thenashira | Game Update: May I 2377

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Game Update: May I 2377

Weather & Recap ⭐︎ By Daylight ⭐︎ By Starlight
🎶 Recommended Listening: Smile.dk - Future Girls ♪
may i 2377
EPISODE 1: Flash Fashion? Couture Craze in Chalra City!
May 1 - May 9

Weather: Chalra City is enjoying a balmy and sunny late spring with some light rain here and there. The inland breeze from the nearby beaches brings a cool touch and the promise of summer, and flowering forsythia adds splashes of bright yellow to many parts of the city. The highs for the month average around 72°F/22°C, with lows around 50°F/10°C.

Recap: Episode 0: Nova Knights, Awaken!
At some point in the latter half of April, you awakened to your destiny as a Nova Knight, and last week, you and your fellow Nova Knights assembled for the first time. With Nautis's help, you're here to fight for a common cause — saving the Earth from the Abyss, the evil entity that destroyed your home planet in a past life. Whether or not you've revealed your true identity to any of your fellow Nova Knights, though...

Nautis has asked that you all lay low for a bit while she analyzes some data to try and pinpoint the enemy's next move. In the meantime, you can still keep an eye out for the occasional low-level monster terrorizing innocent bystanders, but maybe you're taking this opportunity just to let it all sink in. Maybe it doesn't even feel real yet, despite the big battle last week. After all, finding out that you have a special destiny because you're a reincarnated space alien can be a lot to take in.

BY DAYLIGHT
⭐︎ The new school year is underway at the Everwave Academy for Distinguished Youths, and after a month, students and faculty alike have settled back into the familiar school day rhythm. There's a new teacher in the art department, Shelly Lustre, whose highly critical approach has already made him a polarizing figure among students.

⭐︎ Chalra City is always changing with the times, and fashion is no exception! The new hot thing is in and it is Dan Flashes, a high-end boutique that recently opened in the downtown shopping district. Shoppers are turning out in droves to snatch up their latest pieces, especially their signature line of shirts with a variety of elaborate patterns despite the designer prices, which seem...to be based on how complicated the patterns are...? Huh?? Their items are, uh, pretty unique, but maybe the exclusivity is the main draw. Surely no one would actually buy these because they think they look it looks good, let alone wear them, right?

And yet the craze has taken hold of the city! Even if you can’t afford to shell out $800 for a shirt that looks like a screensaver threw up on an upholstered bus seat, you can still show your brand loyalty by wearing one of their signature pins. They’re practically giving them away, and it seems like just about everyone is wearing one these days. If you want to be in right now, Dan Flashes branded pins are all the rage in pop couture.

BY STARLIGHT
Hideout: Part of the Nova Knights package is the secret hideout beneath Lucky Stars Arcade, made of the remnants of a part of the Nashira that crash landed on Earth hundreds of years before Chalra City's founding. Right now all that's accessible is the console room that houses Nautis's core and the briefing room, which serves as a kind of lounge, but aside from shelves built into the walls, the only furniture there is an ancient table bolted to the floor, and anything that hasn't been recently touched is covered in a thick coat of dust. Who knows what you might find in there?

Still, if you want to just hang with your fellow Knights while in supernova (you know, in case you're concealing your identity), this is the place to be! All of the Nova Knights have been granted the power to warp themselves to the hideout while in supernova, but there's also the secret entrance behind the Bleat Fighter 3 cabinet that can be accessed by inputting a special button combo.

Intel: As Nautis mentioned in Episode 0, much of the data she needs to track the enemy's movements still needs to be decrypted from her databanks. She's getting some funky readings, and while she doesn't know exactly what they mean yet, it could be trouble...but soon she might have some information about those behind the arcade kerfuffle — the Harbingers of the Abyss!

⭐︎
Welcome to the grand opening for Stars of the Nashira! 🎊 Feel free to post your own logs, or you can use this as an open log for first half of the month. If you have any questions about the game update, you can drop them in the comment thread below.

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Maomao blinks in surprise. Lingerie fittings? This sort of thing doesn't embarrass her — rather, there are a few gears turning in her head now. Hoho, fascinating information. It seems like Natalia's little village has more to offer than just a few rare herbs.

"Tea is just fine for me. I'll leave it up to you." Tea and water are standard fare for her and her father's rather lean home. She turns back to Lenya and asks, in a most respectable tone, "I know you're quite booked, ma'am, but out of curiosity, do you offer a group rate on fittings?"

If she can finagle some kind of deal for Verdigris House, then maybe the madam could knock a little off her father's rent. Yes...this could work out...

"Eh? It is just me. By the hand. Natashenka, she tries sometimes, but she thinks like engineer, not like seamstress. Ah, but I should remember she found silk finer than I ever could! But..." Now Lenya turns from the 'doting mother' directly to the 'mistress of the side hustle'. "If you are promising steady work... who would you be asking for?"

Natalia is beginning to seriously doubt bringing Maomao to her family's apartment. Still, she gets some tea with orange zest, sets an electric kettle, and pulls forth cups and saucers. "you as well, mother?"

"Just water for me, dear," Lenya says.

Unfortunately this is just what happens when you let Maomao into your house, Natalia. Was this a social visit? Not anymore! She's in full business mode now. A beautiful opportunity is unfolding before her eyes.

"Are you familiar with Verdigris House, ma'am?"

Maomao actually smiles, a proper grin, lightly thumping a hand to her chest. She might not technically have any authority to represent their business interests, but she figures that she can get the madam's forgiveness if she brings home a good enough deal.

"Enough to know one woman alone could never keep them all in pretty underthings," Lenya replies. "Especially not with a Sergey in the home. And Natashenka, she deserves better than being recruited to my little side thing for full days of work."

A setting of her own current limits, this-- a one-woman operation in extremely limited space. And she gets by, heavens she gets by! But this understandably means she can't outfit every member of the Verdigris House.

Natalia fills the tea kettle, and sets it on the table with her mother's water. Then, to proper negotiating biscuits.

Edited (Oh right Natalia's still here) 2025-05-24 04:54 (UTC)

Hohoho. Natalia is bringing out the Good Snacks. Maomao knows she's on the right track, and now she is in her element. Based on her blanket antisociality at school, you'd never guess what a little saleswoman she can be.

"Not all of them, ma'am," Maomao assures her. "To ask you to produce on that level would, I'm sure, only serve to cheapen a luxury product. But if you've heard of Verdigris House, then perhaps you've also heard of the Three Princesses."

Pairin, Joka, and Meimei — three of the most popular courtesans in Chalra City, and minor celebrities in their own right. And all celebrities need to keep up their appearances.

"A high-class courtesan needs high-class fashion," Maomao says expansively, "not just for outerwear, but underwear as well. One can't simply wear the same thing season after season. And nothing says status like bespoke lingerie."

Maomao is offering not only a (currently unauthorized) promise of steady, spaced-out orders, but a relationship with an institution of cultural prestige. Sure, not every business wants to be associated with a pleasure house, but Verdigris isn't just any old pleasure house, and clearly, Natalia's mother isn't just any old businesswoman.

"Ho! That I shall believe if you bring them here, and not before!" Lenya sips at her water. For all her skepticism, she has a somewhat indulgent smile. "Forgive my outburst. While I am sure you do have some pull with them-- you bear their colors and seem very comfortable seeing underthings in construction-- Well. Many will claim to know the famous for a little consideration."

Still, Lenya hums. "Though if you truly do know them, and know them well... In a week's time, introduce my daughter to them. If there is anyone who has benefited well from my handiwork, it is my own family, after all! These others are a minor thing after we found out I did not have to make clothes for us all anymore, and others asked where I had found such wonderful things."

Natalia blinks. She is beet-red, but continues in her usual monotone, regardless. "Are you sure I will be an appropriate clothes-horse for this?"

Lenya's indulgent smile is the only response Natalia gets.

"You're a shrewd businesswoman, ma'am," Maomao says with great respect, spreading her hands. "I was raised at Verdigris House. I know the owner quite well."

Well enough to know that the madam knows a good opportunity when she sees one. Maomao is over the moon. It's not going to cost her or the madam anything to have Natalia do a little modeling — but she knows, too, that if the madam thinks Maomao is wasting her time, Maomao will pay for it somehow. So right now, Maomao is feeling especially motivated, and she's looking Natalia over in a way that one does not typically look at a classmate. Certainly not in a way one does in front of someone else's mother, either.

Natalia's question is a reasonable one, even if she's obviously a bit prudish. Too bad for her. Maomao puts a hand to her chin and tries to imagine Natalia without her uniform. She's got a healthy bust size, for starters. This might just work.

"Actually, you're pretty close to ideal," Maomao says thoughtfully. "Grams prefers girls with some meat on their bones."

Natalia pauses. It's not that she's uncomfortable with the way Maomao stares at her. She can't quite place the emotion she's feeling at that moment, but it does make her sit a bit straighter than she already was and cross her ankles under the chair.

"Grams is a smart woman!" Lenya laughs. "So. One week. You shall wear what I tell you and then we shall discuss matters further, if your friend is as good as her word... And you agree."

Natalia pauses. "It is simply modeling? Playing to the crowd? ... That, I can do."

~ ~ ~

She would say this-- her new bra was quite comfortable. She just wished that Mother hadn't hand-laced it to support her while also being, well, lace. What was more, the blouse was carefully embroidered and also with lace at the cuffs and collar, and her shawl was a print that her mother had taken the time to do herself.

And the skirt--! Another carefully made print. This one a sparse floral theme with a gentle, pastel blue, like the sky.

All of this to frame and build around a silk vest that had been lovingly embroidered with lavender flowers, carefully laced up to frame her chest.

But Lenya had not been done. She had two petticoats on, and the stockings still stole the show. She was confident enough in her mother's art that she was sure the garters fit and would stay on, but there was always that worry, too.

The overall effect was that Natalia felt a little like she was committing some sort of crime just by walking in this, even though she was, in fact, fully covered for everything short of a visit to the opera or something more formal even than that.

She had never been to Verdigris House, either-- it had been such a short time since she arrived in Chalra City, after all, and Verdigris House was not cheap.

So what's the place like? Well...

Verdigris House is busy and bustling at this time of day — things tend to be slow in the morning, but by the time Natalia and Maomao are out of school and in the red-light district, the evening crowd is just getting started. The generously-sized pavilion is dotted with tables and comfortable chairs to lounge in, where customers often took tea with apprentice courtesans and were entertained by hosts, employees who were, generally speaking, only involved in the front-of-house end of the business. Only vetted customers are permitted in the back, though a balcony overlooks the lantern-lit pavilion.

Natalia's mother had really gone all-out — the luxury of her outfit rivaled that of some of even the middle-ranking courtesans at the pleasure house. Her outfit drew more than a few stairs as Maomao, full of confidence, led her up to the entrance where the madam was engaged in some sort of unforgiving negotiation with a customer.

On seeing Maomao, though, she immediately breaks off, looking displeased. Maomao smiles and holds up her hands, entreating her to just hear her out.

"Grams, before you say anything about the rent, I've got a new business prospect for you."

The madam's critical gaze shifts to Natalia, and she looks the girl over carefully, scanning her from bottom to top. She's certainly made up well. The madam walks a half-circle around her, puffing on her pipe with a look of interest.

These men, these women, looking at her. She tries to tell herself that this is exactly why she has come. That getting eyes on her clothing was the point.

She wasn't a stranger to people looking at her with longing, either. There were always those who wanted to be like her. There had been, consistently, those who had considered her an amusement or a toy.

This...

This felt different.

She was maybe a little too stiff as she walked, maybe a bit too considered in her movements, and yet...

There was a little thorn of something in it. A little piece of something greater struggling to escape. By the time the madam was looking her over, she had one hand over her heart, trying to identify what was making it run so fast.

She wasn't scared, surely? She could have put any of them on the floor, should she have desired.

It's these conflicted thoughts which show in her body language, which regardless also show off the clothing. "Good evening," she manages.

The madam notes that touch of nervousness — a hand to the chest is hardly a subtle gesture — and she exhales plumes of smoke through her nose as she chuckles, looking for a moment much like a wizened dragon considering adding a new piece of treasure to its hoard.

"Well, aren't you fancy. Not half bad, though." She squints at Natalia, a calculating stare. "How old are you, girl?"

Maomao almost chokes. "Grams, that's not why I brought her h—"

She doesn't get to finish the sentence before the madam bops her on the head with her free hand. "Quiet, child. I'm doing business here."

She pauses, her mind catching up to the situation as she is asked a direct question. "Sixteen," she rattles off, immediately.

The rest of the comments catch up. Rather than examine why she is being interviewed, she adds, "you admire the clothes, then?" In hopes of avoiding an awkward conversation in a minute or two.

"Sixteen, huh? Well, front of house work isn't a bad place to start."

"She's here for the clothes, Grams," Maomao says, a little touch of desperation in her voice. Natalia's mother had seemed nice and sensible, yes. She also seemed like the kind of mother who might abruptly be a lot less nice and perhaps less sensible if Natalia came home with an altogether different job offer.

"I'm old, Maomao, not blind," the madam snipes without looking back at Maomao. Some people around here are capable of thinking on more than one level at a time. She peers a little more closely at the embroidery on Natalia's collar, letting out another puff of smoke. "That's someone's handiwork, every stitch of it. You make these yourself, girl?"

"The sourcing and materials," Natalia says, with perfect honesty. "My mother is responsible for the stitching and embroidery."

She pauses. She's a full head taller than Maomao-- and not many people larger than her. The school's guidance counselor was an outlier. Add in that she was quite skilled at martial arts... the conclusion, to her, was obvious-- and dead wrong. "As for front of house, I have not attempted crowd control before, but as a presence deterrent, and a way to come to observe the business, it would not be a bad place to start..."

"Well, hand embroidery like that's nothing to sneeze at," the madam says approvingly, but she lets out a hearty burst of laughter at Natalia's conclusion. "Ha! You think you're interviewing to be a bouncer, do you? I'd have to fire myself if I hired such a pretty face as a punching bag."

She grins outright, leaning in a little closer — always with the eye of someone inspecting merchandise. "You want to observe the business, huh?"

They'll talk about the clothes in a second. She's decided to prioritize securing a somewhat slippier business proposition first. Maomao wonders whether Lenya would be more upset about a job offer as a bouncer or as an apprentice courtesan.

Pretty face!? Oh. Oh dear. There's that heart, going again. She carefully controls her breathing as she continues. She's had nerves before a fight. She's even had nerves before fighting a pretty girl. This is... This is something else. But her heart just won't tell her what it's feeling, not with any certainty.

"We came through the front of the house," Natalia explained. "It is not the first time I have been before a crowd, far from it, but... There was something different in that air, which could not be explained by ambience nor company. I came to realize I did not know, nor could I identify, what that difference was."

Curiosity, now, is it?

The madam's mouth has stretched into a grin that Maomao clocks as alarming, but she doesn't know how to warn Natalia away at this point. Welp,

"Something in the air, eh?" The madam lets out another chuckle, stroking her chin as she gives Natalia another once-over. "Why don't you come work for me, then? Not as a bouncer — I'm short a hostess since Zulin quit to move back home. Strictly front-of-house work," she says, and her eyes stab at Maomao as she says the words. Maomao just about jumps in place.

I swear, that old hag can read minds...

"If you do," the madam goes on, "I'll consider buying whatever it is you came here to sell."

"As the only compensation? I may be interested in what happened, but I am no fool," Natalia said. "I would as surely die working only for the hope of your favor as I would naked in the snow."

Aha. Now we come to actual negotiations.

The madam bursts out laughing, rapping her cane against the ground. "Maomao, where'd you find this one! She's something else. No, girl, you'll get paid just the same as anyone else who works here. I'm just as interested in you as I am your pretty clothes."

Maomao has a bad feeling about this. However. She also stands to gain financially from sealing this deal so unfortunately she is not intervening. Sorry, Natalia.
"You will actually get paid," Maomao assures her. "The madam's an old miser, but you keep your own tip — ow!"

The madam mercilessly drives a knuckle into the top of Maomao's head. Don't worry, Natalia, she doesn't treat the employees like this. This is just Maomao's lot in life.

And now it comes to the nitty gritty of it. "I see. And given that someone arguably just quit, you have a certain number of payroll hours. Now, I will need my own time, and much comes down to what mother and father will say."

She hums. "That said-- what precisely would this involve? Having seen the front of the house, I am making a guess that it is a restaurant and lounge of some sort, though, the House being the House, it's also an advertisement for the... back of the house, I assume?"

"Not a restaurant, exactly," says the madam, looking highly entertained. "More like a teahouse. And you're not wrong, but you're not part of the advertisement. Your job is to keep the customers out here entertained and spending money. They're the ones who can't afford what the back of the house has to offer. Although there are a fair few customers who come just for the company."

The madam's grim broadens. "But if you ever start considering a full apprenticeship, that could change things."

"Grams," Maomao says, and she is completely ignored.

"I see. Are there any particular requirements in what I allow when it comes to this entertainment?"

The madam shakes her head, blowing out a stream of smoke. "You'll just be pouring drinks and making friendly conversation. There's a strict hands-off policy for the front of house, and we don't accommodate customers who can't follow the rules. And we've got Ukyou and the boys over here at the ready to haul off any customer who gets a funny idea."

Ukyou, the head of the bouncers — a small security force, really — gives Natalia a friendly wave. Despite his easygoing manner, it was pretty clear at a glance that the man could physically haul most customers out of the teahouse single-handedly, if necessary.

"And you'd be compensated for the trouble," the madam adds. "So — what are your preferences? We won't make you entertain anyone you're not comfortable with."

She looks at Ukyou with a slight amount of appreciation, pauses, hums, nods. "I may be able to handle anyone like that myself, but I appreciate the offer of backup."

But as to the second question, she finds herself blinking, uncertain as to what Grams is getting at. ".... Preferences, ma'am?"

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Game Update: May I 2377

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