Game Update: May II 2377

[nashiramods]

Weather & Recap ⭐︎ By Daylight ⭐︎ By Starlight

🎶 Recommended Listening: Transformers Prime Main Theme - Brian Tyler ♪
may ii 2377
EPISODE 2: Bathhouse Blitz! Save the Black Cat and the Golden Butterfly!
May 17 - May 24

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.
Star Suite: The Library has been unlocked! Every Nova Knight will also recover a memory from their past life. More details in the post below.
Recap: In Episode 1, you successfully investigated and foiled your very first plot by the enemy! After Nautis identified the high-end complicated-patterns fashion craze around the Dan Flashes boutique as originating from the Harbingers, the Nova Knights did some thorough investigating and then, in their first serious battle since the night at Lucky Stars, defeated Dan Flashes himself. You can find the previous month's event log here.

You can see what the Harbingers themselves are up to in the aftermath of the event in the Episode 1 Harbingers Gaiden! Mostly a lot of bickering, but they're now aware of the threat posed by the Nova Knights, and they're already making plans to eliminate them.

BY DAYLIGHT
⭐︎ Now that Dan Flashes is out of business, a new business has taken over the space — so quickly, in fact, that it doesn't seem like it was ever vacant at all. There's now a frozen yogurt joint in its place called FroYo Better Believe It!. The only thing Nautis finds suspicious about it is the fact that people like frozen yogurt at all.

⭐︎ Shelley Lustre, art teacher at Everwave Academy, has announced that he'll be holding an art contest for the students. The theme: hidden beauty. Given his already very polarizing personality and deep fondness for seashell-studded sculpture, this promises to be a very...divisive competition.

⭐︎ Public bathhouses are a staple in Chalra City, and they're no exception to the march toward modernization. Newer public baths are bigger and boast much more amenities than their more traditional counterparts, which is precisely why the historic Golden Butterfly Bathhouse is at risk of going out of business! Run by Granny Chocho, whose family has been operating this bathhouse for the last two hundred years, the Golden Butterfly is located right around where the red-light district and the most historic part of the city intersect. But what the Golden Butterfly lacks in fancy amenities, it makes up for with its historic charm, attentive service, and hard-scrubbed cleanliness — which is exactly what its faithful regulars have been trying to spread the word about.

If you pass through that part of town this week, you might meet some customers and even Granny Chocho herself handing out flyers to try and recruit new customers — and if you bring the flyer with you, you get 50% off your entry fee. Not a bad deal, especially if you like quiet and simple! It might be worth checking out, though you'd have to enter as a civilian.

At the end of the week, though, the flyers are a little different — now they're offering a discount on the new scented bath salts the Golden Butterfly is selling! You're not familiar with the brand — a pearl in a stylized oyster shell, bearing the text Seaside Lustre — but they're being advertised as being great for both relaxation and rejuvenation. Apparently, you can have it all!

BY STARLIGHT
⭐︎ Recovered Memory: In the couple of days following the Dan Flashes fight, everyone will recover a memory from their past life — specifically, their final moments in the fight against the Abyss. More than just the dying wish, this is a full memory of whatever last conversation, fight, or whatever they had before dying in the final battle aboard the Nashira. You're not required to, but you're welcome to detail the contents of your character's memory in the thread for recovered memories below. You can also keep track of your character's past life memories with our handy-dandy info page template!

⭐︎ Hideout Status: As a result of everyone's tidying efforts earlier in the month, it's actually pretty nice in here now! There's a big sectional couch for lounging around, at the very least. It's even starting to feel kind of homey.

Another fruit of your labor is that a new part of the crashed ship has become available: you can now access the Library, a modest-sized room with floor-to-ceiling shelves, every last one of them packed with books. Magic books! Much like a modern tablet but with actual pages, these individual books can hold a wealth of magically-stored information and recall what you wish to learn on its pages. Naturally, none of these books are in the local language, but in standard Hassalean. That's not a problem for you guys, though — perhaps due to your recently recovered memories, you all discover that you also have the ability to speak and read Hassalean, as though you simply downloaded the knowledge into your brain. Neat!

If you'd like to have your character peruse the library, you can reply to the thread below to have the mod roll for what they find.

There's also a small hydroponic garden along one corner, though nothing is currently planted in it.

⭐︎ The Rewards page has been updated with the next Star Suite upgrade: the next room to unlock is the Aquarium, and the reward will be a Silver-level Star Suite power. Save up those SP!

⭐︎ Intel: Thanks to the missions earlier in May, you all know quite a lot more than you started! To recap: you now know that one of the Harbingers is named Prince Shellustria, and his magic is of the Glamour domain.

You also learned that the data Nautis needs to locate the Star Map fragments was stored in the soul of the ship's mascot, a black cat named Niangniang with whom Nautis does not seem to have been on good terms. Nevertheless, she's definitely been reincarnated on Earth too, so you'll need to find this cat so Nautis can retrieve the necessary data. Apparently recovering data from someone's soul is a perfectly safe, painless process, but the way she emphasizes these points makes you feel like maybe she hopes something bad happens to this cat. Anyway, she's working on a means of tracking down this elusive mascot, so she'll get back to you with more info later!

⭐︎ The Fate of Nova Zenith: Late at night on May 17, everyone receives an uncharacteristically subdued update from Nautis. Apparently Nova Zenith read through some books in the library about what was known to the Hassaleans about the Abyss and decided to investigate on his own — and ran afoul of Prince Shellustria himself. Unfortunately, Nova Zenith was outmatched on his own, and before Nautis could summon any backup, he was overpowered by Shellustria and claimed by the Abyss. He isn't dead, but captive, and he can be saved if they defeat the Abyss — but all the same, the loss of the oldest member of their group will doubtless rock the rest of the Nova Knights.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[nashiramods]

RECOVERED MEMORIES

[nashiramods]

If you'd like to detail the contents of your character's newly recovered memory, you can do so in this thread!

[snizier]

Jamil doesn't recover many details of the events directly preceding his death, but he does remember the context: during the final battle that had ultimately destroyed the ship, many abyss monsters had rampaged through the Nashira's corridors, destroying and murdering whatever they could. He and someone else--he can't identify who, but he "knows" this person is both his servant and his lifelong companion, and someone he cares about dearly--had been trying to escape the monster's notice so they could retreat from danger, knowing it was futile to try and take a stand with just the two of them.

But they'd been discovered, and without giving them a chance to recover the monster had mindlessly attacked. There had been no chance to evade. And so Jamil, tired of being the one always helpless and protected while his servant went into danger for him, made the split-second decision to fight to keep safe what he cares about.

In his memory it didn't hurt. The immediate aftermath was a blur that mostly hadn't registered to Jamil's disorientation. But he does remember that he was on his back, and then his servant and bodyguard and most important companion had gathered him into his arms and then Jamil had thought he ought to explain himself.

He reached up to hold his friend's cheek, his own blood marking where he'd touched, and smiled. Reassuringly. "You're always... the one protecting me," he said, laboriously. "I just wanted to do the same. For once."

And after that... after that, he fell asleep.

PERUSING THE LIBRARY

[nashiramods]

If you'd like to have your character look through the library for books, you can reply to the thread below to have the mod roll for what they find. (One roll per character.)

Re: PERUSING THE LIBRARY

[theriflespiral]

Natalia is hoping for something more helpful than Nautis about getting over this obvious wall she has in regards to magic.

Such things are likely to exist-- after all, the Nashira was meant to be a generation ship, wasn't it?

[nashiramods]

Natalia rolls a 6! She doesn't find anything especially useful regarding magic, but she does find what looks like the training manual for the Imperial Guard, the prestigious battalion directly under the Emperor-Queen's command.

[snizier]

Please!!!

Jamil would have a particular interest in Hassalean history and society but I am also in favor of him finding something stupid.

[nashiramods]

Well he rolled a 4, so all he finds is a book of jokes that must have been intended for children, based on its extremely puerile humor.

[NPC] Maomao

[wood_sorrel]

As usual, Maomao can be found at Everwave Academy during school hours and at Luomen's pharmacy on many afternoons and weekends. She occasionally visits the Golden Butterfly Bathhouse when she needs an alternative to the bath at Verdigris House, but in the evenings, she's most likely to be in the red-light district, either at Verdigris House or the home she shares with her father nearby.

Re: [NPC] Maomao

[theriflespiral]

Natalia... Really needs to heal. She knows this. She's been on the front line for two major fights now in as many months. The injuries will start stacking up.

But.. She is the daughter of someone who knows her herbal medicine. The packet of bath salts for home use is, itself, tempting, but... When told of its miraculous powers, her first instinct is to consider it hogwash and replace it on the rack-- without any mention of the specific actions involved, it was as likely to hurt her as heal her.

So it's an odd bit of serendipity, then, that with the packet in hand, that she meets Maomao entering the Golden Butterfly. Maybe she could get Maomao to ask Luomen? Or-- she's an apprentice, too... "Maomao? Do you have a moment?"

She slaps a few spare coins on the counter and pockets the packet.

Re: [NPC] Maomao

[wood_sorrel]

The bath at Verdigris House is temporarily out of order, so Maomao's been coming to the Golden Butterfly most days this week. She has a little bucket with her wash gear and a towel folded under one arm. She stops at the sound of a familiar voice and, to her light surprise, there's Natalia. Huh, she didn't know Natalia came over this way for a bath...then again, Maomao doesn't figure her the type for the fancy modern ones.

"Huh? Oh, sure." She hesitates, the slightest touch of exasperation. "Grams isn't heckling you about a full apprenticeship, is she?"

[theriflespiral]

Nova Zenith's death hits Natalia hard. Not because she feels like she could have done anything-- his error in investigating the Abyss directly, on his own, without notifying anyone, was a mistake grievous enough to supply all the horror that came.

No, it's because... Zenith was much of what she aspired to be. A hero with genuine wisdom and courage, whose calm and strength in the face of the enemy should have been enough on its own.

... but it wasn't.

And so, Natalia Koutolika nurses her injuries from Dan Flashes himself, and stares at the insurmountable wall before her, and tries to consider... What can she do now?

I: Soaking Her Bruises (Daylight)
And so it is that of an evening, she is taking the coupon, and participating in the old folks' medicated bath, the one that has anti-inflammatories in the hot water. She can't afford to stop training, so it's just having to deal with the bruises and keep going.

Odd, that this is exactly what Danno wanted, even though he was the worst of her trainers.

II: Running Up That Hill (Daylight)
Natalia knows that skill, strength, and courage alone are not meet to the task of facing the Abyss-- not anymore-- but that certainly doesn't mean that they should be neglected. And so, she's practicing basic swings on a wooden dummy. The sound would surely attract some attention eventually, but for now... She's alone with her thoughts.

It's not a place she's glad to be.

III: Library (Starlight)
She hopes the best place to start is by getting better control over her magic. If she can just... Learn, then there's nothing she can't do.

But just 'going with it', as Nautis has suggested, makes her stick. Another wall that keeps her from being a better Nova Knight. Another step closer to the Abyss.

She has to do something.

And so, here she is, in the restored library, looking among the books, because surely, a generation ship like the Nashira would have needed to have a reference on hand to teach Hassalehians born on board how to think of and use their magic. Even if it looks childish, such a primer is exactly what she's looking for.

aaaand wildcard oops

[parillegal]

The madame of the Verdigris house has a special job for Maya today; training a new head of house. Excited as always for company, Maya's prepared herself for another cursory introduction, but when she arrives at work after walking Najma and Pearl home from school, Natalia is already at the Verdigris House too.

"Oh! Hey! Fancy meeting you here!" Maya greets, stopping before she heads to the back to change, leaning against the door way.

"Are you visiting today?"

[NPC] Shelley Lustre

[nashiranpcs]

Shelley can be found around the Academy in various places, but especially the art studio and the school gardens, where he's most often seen sitting by the elaborate fountain.

a. it's called ART
You are in Professor Lustre's art class, and it is hell. Everwave Academy has more than its fair share of the aloof elite, but this guy is somehow on another level entirely. Maybe you have a lot of experience with art classes at Everwave, or maybe this is your first time in the studio — either way, this man is coming at you with an energy you have yet to face at this school, and to make matters worse, he has all the aesthetic taste of a tourist shop in a beach town.

But that doesn't make him any less your teacher, and he's stopped by your desk/worktable/easel/whatever to inspect what you're working on. Tapping his closed fan against his palm, his mouth slightly downturned, he looks like he's already primed to be disappointed. He points his fan haughtily at whatever you're working on.

"You. Explain...this to me."

b. wildcard
Feel free to tag in with a starter of your own or hit me (the mod) up for planning!

a

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

Kalim looks utterly perplexed to be asked this question. He usually enjoys art class, but he's not the kind of guy who's here to make anything abstract or meaningful.

"Uhhh... I wanted to paint a parrot?" he tries. It's not a particularly expert rendition of a parrot, but it's, like, serviceable. You can tell what it's supposed to be, at least.

[snizier]

Jamil frowns down at his easel. Maybe art isn't his best subject, but he thought it was a pretty good recreation of the photo he was working with. Certainly better than a lot of his classmates' efforts. What could be wrong with it?

"It's my assignment, sir," he says calmly. "Does it not meet standards? I apologize if I've misunderstood the requirements."

Re: [NPC] Shelley Lustre

[theriflespiral]

Natalia has, unfortunately, been signed up for the contest, whether she wants to or not. It's a drain on her time and resources that could be better used getting paid or learning music or any of a thousand other things that place this at the absolute dead last of her priority list.

"Unfinished." She's working carefully on a piece of clay. Her hands twitch, barely avoiding being a fist. "First, capture subject as it is. Then, worry about whatever garish thing you want me to do to it."

[avemortis]

Mutsumi didn't know Nova Zenith very well — but then, none of them had really had much of a chance. It hadn't even been a month since they'd all met, and now he's just...gone. Mutsumi doesn't know what to feel, only that it feels bad and that everything seems so much scarier now. It had been scary from the start, but at the same time, not fully real, either. It's only when someone gets hurt that it feels real.

She doesn't know who to talk to about it. Jamil is the only one who knows her identity, but at the same time...he probably feels the same way she does. It'd only be a burden to add her sadness to his.

a. hideout jams (starlight)
Nova Mortis does wonder why her weapon is...well, not really a weapon, but the fact that she has a magical electric guitar actually calms her down a little. It's something familiar, even if she worries she won't be able to play it well enough to help her comrades. And even if it looks a lot like her actual guitar, it feels different, and practice is key.

So some evening or afternoon, you might find Nova Mortis sitting on the big couch, picking out absolutely sick riffs on her pink guitar with single-minded focus. It doesn't seem to need an amp; rather, the magic itself seems to act as one, and it seems like it takes the place of pedals and anything else she might use to modulate the sound, too. It's a process, learning how to play this guitar well. Maybe she can make this one sing.

b. school daze (daylight)
Mutsumi is even more reserved at school than usual. She always comes off as a little sad, but she seems to be carrying some real weight with her this time, a sense of dragging. The school counselor is absent, too — not that Mutsumi is inclined to go to the guidance counselor for help, but the fact that that avenue of help is closed off makes her feel alone all the same.

But despite it all, she still regularly visits the school gardens after class to tend to the cucumber plants. They haven't flowered just yet, the leaves along the vine a vibrant green. Drops of water from the watering can gleam in the afternoon sunlight as they roll down the leaves, gathering at the tips before falling to the ground. Mutsumi watches the trickle of the water with a blank expression, trying to calm the buzzing in her mind.

c. wildcard!
Mutsumi can normally be found around Everwave Academy, either in class or in the gardens after school. On some evenings, she'll be at the hideout as Nova Mortis, and if you want her to fight some monsters or get into some other cool action shit with your character, we can make that happen.

She doesn't have a reason to go to the Golden Butterfly Bathhouse on her own (it's in a totally different part of town from where the Rich Celebrities live), but she wouldn't turn down an invitation. Or being voluntold.

A

[theriflespiral]

Neos is in the Library, that day Nova Mortis decides to jam out. Since the only thing she's found so far is The Royal Guards' Manual for Combat, Supply, and Training-- one of the driest bits of history she's come across in a good while--

She, briefly, closes the book, and pays full attention to the riff, to the way its rhythm sparks against the chords, the slight imperfections of tone as Mortis's fingers must be moving along the fretboard, the tremolo and thrum of electric guitar she's heard often on passing radios (surely they're radios! How could you keep the CD stable?).

Deciding that, for the moment, this is more interesting than pushing through minute and exhaustive advice for the beginning guard and the Constellation Officer, she stands up, closes the book, and peeks her head into the lounge.

a

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

"Oh, wow! I've been wondering if you could play it like a real guitar!" Nova Sunbeam hops up to sit on the back of the couch by Nova Mortis, looking thrilled. "Gosh, you're really good, too! What're you playing?"

[fibrillate]

a. move like poison under everything [net café]

Hope hasn't been at school in a couple days. As a substitute teacher, this isn't too unusual, but anyone who had gotten used to seeing them around might notice that they just aren't. And, well, the people around the net café that they used to frequent before getting this job might notice that they seem to be spending way more time behind a PC screen, pointing and clicking in whatever the first person shooter du jour is.

(They're not focused. They know they aren't focused. How can they distract themself when their own incompetence got somebody killed? Erased from existence? If they'd just been a better Nova Knight then they could have saved Zenith's life. They could have stopped the Abyss like they were supposed to do and things would be okay. Maybe they deserved to die like they remember they did. Maybe they should just—)

They get fragged by the same person for the fourth time in a row and alt+F4 the game. Shoving the keyboard out of the way with their elbows, they put their head down in their hands and make a frustrated grunt that they're suppressing too hard. It makes them want to cry. Everything makes them want to cry. Their throat hurts. They get up and walk to the back of the café, near the vending machines, and they just slump down into an empty corner and put their head in their hands again. "Can I get one break?" they ask nobody in particular.

b. bleeding hands from holding on too long [hideout]

It's hard to be a Nova Knight right now. They know that the hideout is growing, that it's a nice place to spend time, that it's safe for everyone (not anymore), but even going Supernova feels like it's admitting that they're a complete failure. Feels like it's a stain on their soul instead of the freedom it was supposed to be.

They're sitting on the couch, not even able to pick up a controller like they'd planned to do, and they're hiding their face in their big stupid scarf. Out of nowhere, they pull the scarf down and sit upright. "We have to stop Shellustria and bring Zenith back." It's a simple statement, but their throat's hoarse even through the fake determination they're scrounging up from the dregs at the bottom of their emotional barrel. "Now."

c. slowly coursing through my veins [for mutsumi]

Sure. Okay. Fine. Everything's going miserably enough already. They might as well just show up at school with this crappy little guitar of theirs and—no. No, Hope, breathe. You said you were going to have a good time with Mutsumi. Even if you're not on the clock, even if it's the first time you've shown your face at school in a couple days, even if you can't play. Sigh. Breathe. Breathe, okay, you've got this.

They sit down in the vacant music room a little bit after last bell and take their crappy little trainer guitar out of the case. It didn't cost more than a hundred dollars and it doesn't have a single frill on it with its orange sunburst finish and five-way switch (that they don't know how to use) and knobs cranked to 10 haphazardly. The pick feels uncomfortable between their fingers. It's not in tune, so they start working on that, first trying to do it by ear before fidgeting inside the guitar case to pull out a clip-on tuner instead.

When someone enters, they lift their head. It might be strange for Mutsumi to see Hope wearing a black t-shirt (with an edgy skull wearing headphones captioned with "CAN'T HEAR YOU, I'M GAMING") and jeans torn at the knee instead of the nicer clothing they tended to wear as a substitute, but at least they both know their faces by now. "Hey," they say, smiling despite everything. "I'm glad we could finally do this."

d. like the beating of a heart [wildcard]

((anything else? hit me up in the discord server!!))

b

[theriflespiral]

"Assuming Shellustria is working alone. Assuming we can find him. Assuming the Abyss won't swallow us and then find Zenith. If we have all those pieces, yes. There is no reason to delay."

She's fine about Zenith. She's fine. Nothing's wrong.

I THOUGHT I TAGGED THIS WHAT THE HECKY

[avemortis]

Mutsumi nods — hesitantly, but she did come, and for the first time since last school year, she has her guitar case in tow. She sets the case down on the floor to unlatch it and pulls out her guitar, a glittery pink that somehow seems out of step with Mutsumi's whole vibe otherwise. Pulling the strap over her shoulder, she sits down next to Hope and gives them a nod in response.

She's not really sure what else to do, so she just starts strumming the chords to an Afterglow song that's been pretty popular lately.

d-

[parillegal]

As acquainted with death as Maya is, she's maybe taken it better than the others. After all, Maya's never been allowed to pause her life for a death before— why would she have the right to now, for someone she'd only begun to know? The others, of course, were free to mourn as they wished. It's Maya's responsibility to do her best for them while that happens.

There's other reasons for Maya's interest, though. She hasn't had many friends she could simply as, to hang out before. It's not an entirely selfless move when Maya contacts Hope— though Pandora's demeanor lately is a definite influence in why Maya chooses them to reach out to first.

> let's go somewhere together!

No 'hi' or 'hello', apparently.

SPECIAL: Eclipse

[theriflespiral]

a: Red Neos
Nova Neos felt the soreness in her bones, the way her muscles screamed, the thunderous horror as the shell chestplate of the monster splintered before the might of her advance. No spell names. No chants.

Just pure, explosive speed, fury, and strength, born of stone and devotion.

It had been so long, so very long, since all her cares flew away and the weight of her past did not matter.

She knew, vaguely, that her outfit was different. Black had replaced white. Amythyst had replaced the jade.

But her body was still her Temple.

And for here?

now?

It didn't matter. Everything was the bruises in her knuckles and the beast realizing that here was someone who could take everything they had and give it back in spades.

This, then. The return of bloody hands, the enemy broken before her, her muscles and her voice screaming until they were hoarse.

Yes.

This is what she needs.