nashiramods: (Default)
Stars of the Nashira Mods ([personal profile] nashiramods) wrote in [community profile] thenashira2025-06-03 08:47 pm

Game Update: May II 2377

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.
theriflespiral: (longing)

[personal profile] theriflespiral 2025-06-08 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
"... No, it is. Quite all right. Do you know any other pieces, or would you prefer to keep working scales?" She's not sure why, but she sets the book on one side and takes up the couch next to Mortis.

The only things that start coming to mind for her are Bach, and those aren't exactly sing-alongs, now, are they?
avemortis: (毎年冷たくあしらう)

[personal profile] avemortis 2025-06-08 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
At first, she hesitates. Something feels a little strange about playing regular music on this guitar. But...

After a couple of moments, Nova Mortis sits up a little straighter and delves right into a nearly pitch-perfect performance of the guitars from "Luminous Once More", one of the biggest hit singles of the year from idol group Pastel*Palettes. You don't have to be into music to have heard this at least once or twice out and about in the city.
theriflespiral: (gay panic)

[personal profile] theriflespiral 2025-06-08 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
Neos? Natalia-- pauses as she hears it. She has, in fact, heard the piece, in a record store in Computertown when she and Kalim went hunting for DDR albums.

So hesitantly, and then stronger if Mutsumi doesn't stop her, she begins to hum the words an octave low-- she's not a soprano and is not going to try.

The lyrics, though, are DEFINITELY wrong, misheard and not gleaned from liner notes. "Soothing words are passing me by,
"Gentle waves, that do not touch my heart of ice..."
nashiranpcs: (shellustria)

[personal profile] nashiranpcs 2025-06-08 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
Shelley frowns. He's clearly dissatisfied with Kalim's answer.

"I can see that," he says, obnoxiously. "So why don't I see any glitter paint on that palette?"
istandwithmycancelledwife: (Your dog is not afraid of altitude)

[personal profile] istandwithmycancelledwife 2025-06-08 02:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Kalim's eyes widen.

"Gosh, that's a great idea! Thanks! Where's the glitter paint?"
fibrillate: (we can't can't remember the seasons)

[personal profile] fibrillate 2025-06-08 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Pandora doesn't know what it looks like when someone gets a memory back. All they know is that Neos, at one moment, looked like she was about to escalate things into a fight or maybe an actual argument, and the next she was standing there as though in a horrible dream, and only when it finished did she come back to reality and scream. It makes Pandora jump back, sliding their back foot behind them as they get out from underneath Neos' touch.

But even when angry at themself, they can't just let it sit. "Are you okay?" they ask urgently, and there they are closing the distance again. Their hand hovers above Neos' shoulder, and they don't know whether it's okay to touch her or... anything, right now. "What happened?"
theriflespiral: (slightly mad)

[personal profile] theriflespiral 2025-06-08 04:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"No!" Desperate, full of fear and anger and suddenly feeling everything, she holds tightly to Pandora. "Don't. Don't you dare go face the Abyss alone. No!"
fibrillate: (we can't can't recall the feelings)

[personal profile] fibrillate 2025-06-08 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
They freeze in place, not knowing how else to react, and their eyes are wide. Neos doesn't show this level of emotion. Like, ever, in all the time they've known her. This must be serious.

"Hey, hey, hey, no, hey. It's okay. I—I wasn't going to go alone," they lie. "Talk to me. Use your words." They don't like that they're talking similarly to how Zenith did right now. It's subconscious; it would have to be. "It's safe here."
snizier: (Default)

[personal profile] snizier 2025-06-08 05:38 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
theriflespiral: (sad)

[personal profile] theriflespiral 2025-06-08 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"I won't. I won't lose another friend!" She grips at Hope's clothes. "Do you understand!? Facing the Abyss took-- took so many-- so many-- I-- I thought. I thought I saw their faces but I can't remember them-- I sank--"
snizier: (119)

[personal profile] snizier 2025-06-08 07:29 pm (UTC)(link)
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."
snizier: (Default)

[personal profile] snizier 2025-06-08 07:33 pm (UTC)(link)
chucks it at nova sunbeam's head
istandwithmycancelledwife: (Default)

[personal profile] istandwithmycancelledwife 2025-06-08 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)
wow thanks crescent this is super funny XD
fibrillate: (no one's from here no one my dear)

[personal profile] fibrillate 2025-06-08 07:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh. It was... did everybody get a horrible memory? It wasn't just Hope getting another debilitating bout of sleep paralysis? That's... awful. They don't know what else to say to it.

They don't step backwards, they don't leave Natalia's space. They just stay. (It's not what they're used to doing. But they need to do that for Natalia right now.)

"It's not fair. It's not fair that Zenith gets taken and then we all remember exactly what happens when the Abyss starts taking over." Their voice lacks all the determination they'd been speaking with earlier. It's shaking. "I don't want to lose anyone else either. Not again."
theriflespiral: Natalia is looking down at her feet. (isolated)

[personal profile] theriflespiral 2025-06-08 08:04 pm (UTC)(link)
She wants to say what she remembers, but it fades, slipping through her fingers as soon as she reaches for it. All that's left is a cracked pearl and bile so fierce she feels like her entire torso is ready to burn alive-- a light so fierce it blinds. "Then we need to be smart about this! I know you hurt, but you are my friend and if it's our fate to die then let us take as many of those bastards with us as we can."
wood_sorrel: (刺激的なその存在惹かれてく)

Re: [NPC] Maomao

[personal profile] wood_sorrel 2025-06-09 01:52 am (UTC)(link)
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: (deduction)

Re: [NPC] Maomao

[personal profile] theriflespiral 2025-06-09 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
"Not yet, at any rate. Seems the terms she got for the clothes were amenable enough." She hums. "Talk after, perhaps, but I have a concoction I may want you to take a look at. I'm pretty sure it's not worth a snow flounder, but I think figuring out what sort might be a project for us both." Natalia is pretty sure that this proposal will fall on deaf ears; it's nakedly pulling the levers she knows about and Maomao is nobody's fool.

Still, can't hurt to try before she undertakes her own attempts by stealing a chemistry station.
Edited 2025-06-09 02:00 (UTC)
fibrillate: (we can't can't recall the feelings)

[personal profile] fibrillate 2025-06-09 02:35 pm (UTC)(link)
"We aren't fated to die!" they return, sounding offended, sounding terrified, like they've been barely keeping it together for months even though it's only been a couple of days since their world got shattered. They're trembling; when did they start trembling? "We aren't going to die. That's not what's going to happen to all of us. Zenith is—Zenith is gone because I wasn't strong enough, but I'm not going to let it happen to anyone else!"
theriflespiral: (slightly mad)

[personal profile] theriflespiral 2025-06-09 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
The horrifying thought of herself and Pandora and everyone else sinking into the Abyss, alone, spurs her to say, "It's not a matter of strength! We can't-- it took everything we had, and we still-- we still--"
theriflespiral: natalia, a pale girl with black hair and black eyes, holds a glass shard in her hand. a panoply of guns, bread, and nets surrounds her. (Default)

[personal profile] theriflespiral 2025-06-09 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
SO HEY DOES ANYONE WANT TO LOOK AT A COOL BIT OF MARTIAL ARTS TRAINING AND HISTORY--

...

...
fibrillate: (no one's from here no one my dear)

[personal profile] fibrillate 2025-06-09 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
"I know! I know, okay?" They want so desperately to shrink away and disappear and never do anything again. Maybe if they fall into the Abyss themself then it'll solve everything. Nobody would have to deal with these stupid unstable outbursts anymore, at least.

"It's too strong but we're supposed to be stronger! We're supposed to be the ones who save this world, and what the hell is the point of that if we can't even save each other?"
theriflespiral: natalia, a pale girl with black hair and black eyes, holds a glass shard in her hand. a panoply of guns, bread, and nets surrounds her. (iconic)

[personal profile] theriflespiral 2025-06-09 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"-- So. Both of us out to fist-fight with the reaper?" Her mood doesn't... Swing, so much as it gains a sudden, vicious edge. "To swallow the ocean? To wrest the glories from the Sun?"

She looks Hope dead in their eyes. The grin she has is... Disconcerting. "Looks like we are back to Danno's way. Come, the briefing room is a better space than Nautis's lounge."

And yet, if anything, she's clearly struggling to maintain being Neos.
nashiranpcs: (shellustria)

[personal profile] nashiranpcs 2025-06-10 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
A look of relief that has never been seen by an Everwave student before comes over Shelley's face.

"At least someone at this school has a sense of aesthetics," he says haughtily, but in a provisionally approaching way. He points with his fan at a nearby shelf stocked with acrylic paints. There's a whole section with glitter paint. Jazz up that bird, Kalim.
nashiranpcs: (shellustria)

[personal profile] nashiranpcs 2025-06-10 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
"It's lifeless," Shelley declares mercilessly. "Where's the color? Where's the panache? Art is a reflection of the soul. You need to dig deep, Mister Viper. A mere surface interpretation simply will not do."

What is he talking about? Fuck if anyone knows.

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