May I Event Log

[nashiramods]

Who: Everyone! (That's right, even you)
What: The newly-minted Nova Knights begin their investigation of the strange things happening around the city. The Dan Flashes fashion craze has gotten out of hand...
When: May 9-16
Where: Chalra City

may i event
EPISODE 1: Flash Fashion? Couture Craze in Chalra City!
May 10 - May 16
TIMELINE
5/10-5/12 Hideout Cleanup
5/10-5/15 Fashion Scouting
5/11 Investigate: Lucky Stars
5/12 Investigate: Boutique
5/13 Nautis's Databanks
5/16 Showdown: Dan Flashes

> Hello, Nova Knights! The world needs saving yet again today!
> OK, well, you haven't technically saved any worlds, and it's just the city. But I think it's important to go in with the right mindset! ^_^
> This whole fashion craze is pretty weird, right? I mean, even for Earth? So I'm sure this has to be the work of the enemy.
> That or this world is already doomed.
> Hehe, just kidding! ^_^
> Anyway, you can use your magic powers for more than fighting — since you're magic, you can see magic, too! Isn't that cool? (๑•̀ ᴗ•́)૭✧ And if you point your phone camera at it, I can give you detailed information!
> Well, I can give you information, anyway! I'm still missing a lot of the details. Speaking of which...
> Can some of you just, you know, hang out down here with me? While I'm decrypting my databanks?
> It's tedious work, and I was alone for sooooooooo looooooong
> If every O in that last sentence formed an exponential number, it wouldn't even come close to the number of years I went without talking to a sentient being :(
> I've been so lonely... I never dreamed the day would come when I would finally get to meet you all...
> If a computer could cry, well... Even if I don't have real tear ducts, my feelings are just as real as yours...
> Also, your magic would help a lot! ^_^
> You don't have to do anything! You can just stand there and be your magical, fabulous selves. And explain to me what "Techno-Os" are and why everyone is obsessed with them.

There's more to do in the hideout than just keep Nautis company — until just a couple of weeks ago, this space hadn't been used for millennia. Not only is it full of dust (✨space dust✨), it's also pretty sparse as far as furniture goes. Maybe a little interior decorating is in order. If you're going to have a secret hideout, you want to make it feel nice and homey, right?

Meanwhile, the Dan Flashes craze has only spread farther among the citizens of Chalra City. It seems like every other person on the street is sporting a Dan Flashes pin these days, and the boutique is now one of the hottest spots in town. The mysterious readings Nautis is getting from the Dan Flashes store resemble the ones from Lucky Stars a couple of weeks ago, so Nova Crescent and Nova Sunbeam decide to check it out. They run into bizarre fashion monsters along the way, but they learn of the name Prince Shellustria, which must certainly belong to one of the Harbingers. Meanwhile, Nova Glimmer and Nova Neos form the first organized effort Lucky Stars Arcade for clues after the battle there — and they do, pointing at a Harbinger with the Glamour domain.

It's Nova Zenith, Nova Neos, and Nova Crescent who wind up fighting Dan Flashes himself, and after a truly psychedelic battle, he's defeated, and every trace of his fashion empire seems to disappear overnight. Things are calm for now, but with the help of Nova Mortis and Nova Pandora, Nautis is able to locate the data she needs about the Star Map fragments...or rather, she is able to locate its absence. It seems that in the process of backing everything up during that fateful battle on the Nashira, she exceeded her storage capacity, and the ship's mascot was used as overflow storage. That is to say, the data that will allow them to locate the rogue fragments of the Star Map is currently located in a reincarnated soul. She hasn't awakened yet, though, so the Nova Knights will have to be on the lookout...

The full mission results can be found here.

Comments

[fibrillate]

"Neither do I."

They might be too honest, or too vulnerable, but if Mortis feels strongly enough to say that sentence all at once, the least Pandora can do is return the sentiment. "I know what I want to do, just because I've always wanted to do a lot of things that being here makes easier. But I don't know where to get started." They shrug very slightly. "So I'm just doing whatever as long as I'm not hurting anyone."

[avemortis]

Nova Mortis just ducks her head. Even through the lace mask, it's not hard to tell that she's...pretty down.

"...What if you're hurting someone...no matter what you do?"

[fibrillate]

It's time for Pandora to fall silent, at least for a moment while they gather their thoughts. They don't exactly know what they could even say to that; the only person their decisions have hurt is themself, almost by design and not in such a literal way. But they have their own reasons.

"I don't know," they say, their words rolling heavily out of their mouth. "I don't think I'd be able to make a choice. I'd probably just sit there paralyzed instead." They smile, but it's not real. "Sorry, Mortis. I feel like I'm supposed to be one of the mentors like Zenith just because we're the oldest. But I really don't know what to actually do."

[avemortis]

Ohhh that bums Nova Mortis out even more. She needs someone to tell her what to do. Whatever they need, she'll do it — she just doesn't know what that is.

"Should I...talk to him?"

[fibrillate]

"If you want advice from someone who can actually make a decision," they say, their face falling back into a kind of neutrality that feels worse than trying to fake it.

They let Nautis continue talking for a while, but after what feels like an eon, they finally speak up again. "If I absolutely had to make a kind of choice in that situation, I would probably take the one that makes the person I care about more the happiest. But that..." They laugh, only a tinge bitter. "That sounds like a pretty bad way to make choices, doesn't it?"

[avemortis]

It's not super easy to tell through the lace mask, but Nova Mortis's face falls. Oh no. 

"...It does?"

[fibrillate]

Oh no. Pandora's face settles into a frown; people only say that stuff when they've said something wrong. They can manage this tailspin, though.

"If the only thing I care about is who's happiest at the end of it, then I'm not thinking about how to make it right with everyone else. I'm not trying to find a compromise... and a lot of the time I'm probably not thinking about myself," they say, being too honest by half. Hoping that Mortis doesn't hate these words any more than Pandora themself hates them. "I'm doing the easy thing, not the right thing."

[avemortis]

Oh no. Oh no. Has she been doing the easy thing and not the right thing all this time? But...it hasn't been easy at all...

Nova Mortis doesn't say anything in response. Sorry, Pandora, little beepo's misery is increasing.

[fibrillate]

Oh, no. Tailspin not managed. Pandora falls silent for a moment while their thoughts race, and they go to great lengths to dodge the mental roadblock of "nice job breaking it, hero" only to come out on the other end without much to say for it.

"I'm harder on myself than I have to be," they say, like that makes it all better. "It feels like I'm making a lot of these rules up as I go, to... try to make myself feel safe or something. From making a mistake and having something worse happen. But nothing ever really feels safe," and they nearly laugh. Horrible. An awful truth. "Sorry. I'm probably not helping."

[avemortis]

No, Pandora is most definitely not helping. In fact Nova Mortis is having a tiny bit of an internal spiral over this.

"...I need to go."

She knows she's supposed to be helping Nautis, but she's uh. She's gotta go

[fibrillate]

Pandora swears inside their own head and they're only half sure it doesn't come out on their breath.

"We have to finish this thing for Nautis," they protest, but it's meek. They know they're the one at fault here. "I can keep doing it. If you want to go upstairs and play some games for a bit, or... something." It really, really does not feel good right now.

[avemortis]

Nautis cheerfully tells them that they're nearly done. The only sound that Nova Mortis makes as she turns and runs for the stairs is the clack of her shoes against the floor.

[fibrillate]

They stay where they are. What else can they do? They lift their head, turning it slightly in the direction that Mortis had run off to, and say very clearly, "Oh, I really fucked it up." And they slump over the couch and hope that she returns, already knowing that she won't.