thenashira | May I Event Log

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May I Event Log

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.

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So It Has Come To This. The whole situation with the Nova Knights has inevitably escalated, and now not only does Jamil has to deal with Kalim as a Nova Knight on a regular basis, but they've somehow gotten stuck investigating the same strange phenomenon. Or, Jamil is stuck. Kalim--Nova Sunbeam, sorry--is probably having the time of his life.

Jamil is (naturally) already transformed when they meet up near the boutique, conveniently out of sight of any passersby. Thankfully some of the wilder fashion trends of his neighborhood mean he won't stand out too much. He doesn't bother hiding his disdain at Sunbeam's presence.

"Let's get this over with, then."

"Yeah!"

Nova Sunbeam gives him a huge thumbs up. He is SO excited to be on this mission with Nova Crescent, who is extremely cool and badass.

"I'll do the talking, okay?" he says as he heads out into the street, grinning back over his shoulder at Crescent. "I bet you're way better at sneaking around and noticing stuff than me, so you should take care of that!"

Kalim will do the talking? Great. Recipe for disaster. Unfortunately in this situation he is correct about Crescent being better suited to sneaking in, which Jamil will concede but that doesn't mean he has to be polite about it.

He scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Fine." As he steps back, he melts into his shadow form and hugs the wall, so that he can more easily follow Kalim as an extension of his own shadow. Let's see what Nova Sunbeam thinks constitutes the talking.

"It's so cool that you can do that!" Nova Sunbeam says in a delighted stage whisper, ignoring his teammate's obvious derision. Without any further hesitation, he marches right on into the Dan Flashes boutique.

He does an admirable job of not grimacing a little at the onslaught of colours and patterns as he looks around to find the sales assistant. When he does, though, he unleashes the full force of his brightest grin and strides over to ask for shirt recommendations.

His goal here is clearly to keep the staff's attention on him while Nova Crescent takes a look around, but maybe if he's lucky he'll get some info from this guy too...?

Ugh. Sunbeam hasn't done anything in particular to warrant that ugh, but Jamil feels like thinking it anyway.

With the crazy lights set up in every corner of this boutique, it's harder than it might be otherwise for Jamil to sneak around. Unless he sticks to existing shadows, his power is unfortunately pretty conspicuous, and those are far between here. Still, he eventually manages to dart from Kalim's shadow to the edges of the store in the hopes he can find a way through to the employee area.

Unfortunately, he needs to reform soon--the longer he stays in shadow form, the harder it is to hold it--and he's still nowhere near his goal. He'll have to risk reincorporating in the middle of a clothing display rack. Kalim better be real distracting!!

Fortunately Kalim is nothing if not distracting by nature. Several times the sales assistant starts to glance over Kalim's shoulder only to immediately have his attention blasted back to this extremely enthusiastic customer who keeps asking questions like "so which is your most EXPENSIVE shirt?"

Kalim doesn't like these shirts but he IS fully willing to buy like five of them this afternoon if he has to. The combination of his extremely compelling nonreaction to the shirts' price tags and the way he keeps waving his arms around as he talks does in fact provide ample opportunity for Nova Crescent to do his thing unnoticed.

Crescent is unsuccessful at accessing the employee area of the boutique, but for an interesting reason: there's a barrier that prevents him from moving past the threshold, even in shadow form.

Well. Who knows what could be back there, but that does confirm something magically hinky is going on here. As Jamil shifts back towards Kalim to report, the shirts on the nearby racks rustle menacingly. Something noticed him poking around... (danger sting)

Nova Crescent steps into Sunbeam's conversation the moment Kalim allows the sales representative a moment to turn and help someone else. "Are you done? They're definitely here. We should pull back and think about our next move."

"Wow, you figured something out already? Awesome!" Nova Sunbeam waves enthusiastically at the sales assistant. "Thanks so much! I'll come back for those shirts!"

The employee looks a little disappointed – Kalim had clearly given the impression he was going to buy something Right Then And There – but only slightly suspicious. Where did that second guy come from? Even as outrageously dressed as the two Nova Knights are, though, it's easy to lose track of someone in the psychedelic shirtscape of Dan Flashes...

Sunbeam grabs Crescent by the elbow and heads for the door... but that menacing rustling ripples through the shirts from where Nova Crescent was snooping around near the back all the way to the front of the store. Three shirts unhook themselves from the racks and slither across the floor between the Nova Knights and the exit.

Small mercies that Sunbeam didn't simply decide to buy the shirts on the spot instead, so Crescent won't have to intervene and come up with a plausible reason why he cares. He only has a second to be relieved about that before the movement of a particularly loud patch of fabric catches his eye, and suddenly a few shirts fly up from the floor and hang in midair in front of them in a particularly threatening fashion.

Without thinking, Crescent steps protectively in between Sunbeam and the shirts, and immediately wants to punch himself in the face. One of the shirts spins, the pattern on its front pulsing past the borders of the cloth itself to send a psychedelic wave of vertigo toward the both of them.

Kalim has a little shoujo ass heartbeat moment when Nova Crescent moves in front of him to protect him. He always acts like such a jerk, but when it actually matters...!

Fortunately he he isn't given time to get distracted thinking about how cool Crescent is or how their aspects match or how great his hair always looks, because they are being attacked by shirts. Sunbeam calls his staff to his hand just to steady himself against it as the dizziness sweeps over him – he almost feels like he's going to throw up.

"U-urgh, wait–"

Still leaning against the staff, he summons the blazing light of Mirage Flare, using the heat haze to make the psychedelic patterns harder to see. Of course, that also means it's now really, really hot in here... And while Sunbeam and Crescent are safe from the disorienting effects of his mirage, not all the store's patrons are. The combination of the heat, the mirage, and the patterns on the shirts are making some of the civilians faint...

But, well, at least that means fewer witnesses?

With the vertigo effect canceled out (at least for the Knights), the shirts resort to a more direct approach: their sleeves, necks, and waistbands begin to warp and elongate, stretching them into tall, flat, humanoid shapes resembling psychedelic paper dolls.

The moment Crescent realizes what's happening, he instinctively uses Lunar Strike to take out the nearest--easily done, as they're still paper-thin and thus no match for a fancy pair of magic daggers. Useless scraps of cloth fall smoothly and dramatically to the ground in his wake.

That still leaves two, though, and Crescent is no longer positioned between them and Sunbeam! Oh no...!!

Sunbeam swings his staff to hold them off with a bright surge of light, but while it disorients them for a moment one of them still wraps a twisting sleeve around his wrist.

"Ack--!" He yanks his arm away instinctively, but it holds fast. "It's a shirt, how come it's so strong??"

Jamil Lunar Strike's back over to Kalim's side as soon as he's collected himself.

"It's magical, obviously! Don't play nice with it, destroy it!" Ignoring that his own weapon is much better suited for that than Sunbeam's, Crescent slashes the one wrapping itself onto Sunbeam neatly in half, the bottom part fluttering harmlessly to the floor. Or so he assumes. He also assumes this means the part still attached to Sunbeam is probably dead, so that leaves him free to focus his attention onto the third shirt-monster.

But wait. Where did it go...?

"Haha, thanks! My magic isn't great for destroying shirts."

While he's struggling with the sleeve still stubbornly attached to his wrist, though, Sunbeam notices the third one, low to the ground, slithering towards Crescent's ankles. "Look out!" he yelps, lunging past him to slam the tip of his staff into the shirt.

Crescent turns and jumps away as soon as Sunbeam yells, but if Sunbeam hadn't planted his staff in time the shirt-creature likely would have made contact. That's annoying, and also careless of him.

Unfortunately, having turned back around he can now see that the shirt still attached to Sunbeam isn't dead, and is now wriggling its way back up his arm, which means Crescent now has to prioritize. Thankfully, the one stuck under Sunbeam's staff seems pretty well trapped at the moment.

"Hold still. Don't let it go," he says roughly, and then carefully lines up his blades so that when he strikes he'll cut the shirt and not Sunbeam. Ideally that's still something he should care about. Don't squirm!

Something about the way Crescent tells him to hold still is really, really familiar – it bypasses Kalim's brain and goes straight to his nervous system, and he holds still without thinking about it. Which is funny, because Nova Crescent couldn't be more different from Jamil! (Except for the fact that they're both extremely cool and they both have great hair, obviously.)

Maybe that's just what it's like when anyone tells him to hold still, Kalim wonders. It's not like people other than Jamil do that very often.

That has to be it, he decides, doing his best not to move or get distracted as he holds the struggling shirt down with his staff and keeps his wrist still for Nova Crescent to cut through. Nothing worth wondering about here!

Crescent doesn't notice Sunbeam's instinctive freeze response because he is too busy trying to keep a bead on the shirt-thing clinging to Sunbeam's arm, which has sensed its time is short and responds by flailing as hard as it can, flapping Sunbeam's wrist around with the effort.

Crescent curses and grabs Sunbeam's wrist to keep the thing still and shoves a heel down into the one still trapped beneath Sunbeam's staff just to make sure it's contained. Very carefully, he runs his blade through the fabric, shredding it while making sure not to scratch Sunbeam's skin. Eventually, finally, it stops its wriggling and falls in pieces to the floor, useless.

That leaves the pinned one, but it's pretty well contained and it hardly takes any time at all for Crescent to cut it into pieces. So that's that taken care of... though now that it's over with, it felt oddly easy.

(He also forgot to let go of Sunbeam's wrist.)

For a moment Nova Sunbeam just blinks at him, experiencing a fresh flurry of shoujo bubbles, before he blinks and gets it back together.

"Wow!" he exclaims, making no attempt to pull his wrist away. "That was really cool! Your daggers are so awesome, the way you just, whoosh, took those things out!"

Crescent's mouth twists in annoyance, because he is NOT flattered by Sunbeam's effusive praise of him shut UP.

"It's not that impressive," he snaps, though maybe a little less rudely than usual. "We're just lucky they were made of fabric."

Now that the shirt-creatures seem to be properly dead, reality seems to suddenly fade back into place, as if they'd wandered into some liminal space without noticing and then escaped just as unintentionally. They're surrounded by regular shirt racks and scraps of shredded cloth, and an annoyed employee is looking right at them. They should probably leave before someone tries to make them pay for the ruined shirts.

As the ordinary world seeps back in around them Nova Sunbeam accidentally makes eye contact with the annoyed employee.

"Ah, haha, whoopsie daisy... I guess we should pay for those shirts, huh?"

Unfortunately, Crescent has no reason to tell Sunbeam not to buy any of these shirts under any circumstances--and he will certainly buy more of them than he needs to--because Crescent isn't supposed to be invested in Sunbeam's purchasing decisions or even invested in Sunbeam at all. He grinds his teeth, already coaching himself on how to act convincingly surprised and dismayed when Kalim waltzes home with his arms inevitably full of these awful things. Maybe if he can come up with an excuse to arrive on-scene as Jamil, he can intervene in time...

"Suit yourself," he says icily. He is about to Lunar Strike out of here and fully ditch Sunbeam in the middle of this shopping outlet.

Sunbeam looks at the shirt scraps and hums thoughtfully, ignoring Crescent's frosty reaction. "Although... I guess they turned out to be bad guys, right? So maybe we shouldn't give them any money."

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May I Event Log

INVESTIGATE: BOUTIQUE +2 SP

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