thenashira | Game Update: May II 2377

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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.

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This bird is getting SO jazzed up. Kalim is going to do the entire thing in glitter paint – if Some glitter paint is good, then surely ALL glitter paint is even better! Why limit yourself?

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."

Neos is frightening like this. But right now, it's hard for Pandora to find enough of a reason to care. They know they shouldn't encourage this, but they just want something to happen, they want to be strong enough to have saved Zenith, they want Zenith back and it's their fault and they are shattered about it.

Beating things up won't fix it. But maybe, they think, it can get some of the feelings out of them and they won't feel like this anymore. "Fine. Are you finally going to get your sword fight or are we doing this with our fists?" Is that even what Neos is asking for? They're not sure; they are weaving a narrative in their head and they're very aware of it. (It would probably be great if they could stop doing that.)

"Ho ho!" the laugh, like her grin, is mirthless. "No, friend. You admitted you are the beginner! I would bury you, that is no fun. Needs shovel, takes hours, unpleasant."

Neos, instead, begins to stretch. "No, we will be building your strength, agility, and skill, and maintaining mine as much as possible."

"Training? Now?" they ask, stopping on their heel and looking at Neos like she actually as crazy as her expression might indicate. "No, I'm not—I just want to—" It's so much harder to talk like this; they feel like their tongue is completely tied and their words are just evaporating from their mind. They stand there silently, trying to urge something to come out of their throat, and all at once they spill out, "I want to hit something!"

"... Fine. I will take your blows." She breathes in. "This body is a temple, well-maintained and stable."

And with that, she accepted her body into her Domain.

And stances up. "Now. Come at me, any way you like."

Edited (COME AT ME ANY WAY YOU LIKE) 2025-06-10 18:13 (UTC)

It's not what Pandora would usually do. It's sure as hell not what Hope would do. But there's so much self-hate boiling inside of them right now that it feels tempting. Why not add more to the pile? (And are you actually even going to hurt her? You're pathetic. You couldn't swing your way out of a wet paper bag. Do it, coward. Fail at something else.)

They curl their fist up, grit their teeth, and take a swing at Neos' gut. There's very little power behind it, of course, and they don't have any sort of form or follow-through, and it doesn't make them feel better at all. And they swear loudly, and it sounds like they're on the verge of tears when the word comes out. Dramatic. Idiotic. Useless.

"Hm." She deflects the blow with one hand, pushing it aside with casual ease. It's not easy to beat Natalia in a martial-arts-off, and even more so, Neos. "I know you can feel it. Stand wide enough to swing your hips and get your core muscles involved. I know you can hit harder. I want you to hit harder."

They can't. They don't think they can. But they listen, because their brain is loud and complicated and Natalia's voice is easy, and they take more of a stance this time before swinging again. They still don't actually know how to engage their core or anything like that, which means there isn't a lot of change to the way they throw the punch. They don't swear this time, at least, but tears are welling up in the corners of their eyes.

"Better," she nods, catching the blow outside with the same hand. "Push forward from the heel on your back foot and drive everything into that rear hand. Commit! Make me feel it!"

Yes. This! She can see it, even if Pandora can't. "Watch closely and duck."

There's a twitch in her eye and hand, and Pandora can see her slowing up but committing her hip and torso, putting every muscle from the heel to her hand into the wide, telegraphed swing.

It's easy to dodge, and—once they notice it's coming, once they realize that Neos is letting them dodge it (maybe she's taking pity on them, that's the only reason anyone would, obviously), they duck down into a squat on the floor. When the punch is gone, so is Nova Pandora—they break Supernova, something that they probably shouldn't be doing in the hideout with other people in the next room, but it just feels so impossible to keep all of this up. Everything feels so heavy. The fire that had just driven them quenched in record time by their own stupid brain. Again.

They stay down in that squat, and their heart aches for how they can't even maintain the one thing that's supposed to make them feel better. "Fuck," they say, quieter and more clearly. Their throat is tight. "Stop it, Neos. It's pointless."

"Well--" she pauses. Sees the squat and the break. Listens.

Her eyes are wide. For a moment, her anger rules her, the Danno that lives in her head rules her, she winds up,

But then-- then, she remembers. She remembers herself, when-- when...

Her fists release, she drops stance, and, through gritted teeth, she says, "Mikhail."

Edited 2025-06-10 21:44 (UTC)

She can't help it...she actually laughs a little bit. Just the tiniest sound, muffled by her hand. Something about Nova Sunbeam really...well, lights up the room, and she just kind of says the first thing that comes to mind.

"They have tambourines at karaoke..."

He grins at her. "Wow, yeah, a magic tambourine would be awesome! Buuut... I could still go bring a regular tambourine -- or anything else! -- back here to jam with you anyway!"

He jumps to his feet right away, without waiting to hear what she thinks about it. "Wait right here, okay? I'll be RIGHT back!"

Nova Mortis almost falters when the other girl starts singing. but she keeps on playing, drawn in by the new song that Nova Neos is making out of this. Her playing only becomes more intent, focused, adding a little harmonic color just to enrich the singing. There's something familiar about this, but...she doesn't let herself dwell on it.

The tune is the same, and in the end, so is the message-- So let me shine once more-- Neos's lyric is... Verbose. Verbose to the point that if it wasn't a familiar and fairly short song, it would be difficult to tell what she's talking about.

As an 'I want' song, however, it's brutally clear:

I want to know what I feel. Let spring come for me. Please.

"... Thank you. You play well."

Edited 2025-06-11 03:08 (UTC)

If Natalia had actually followed through, Hope would've understood. God knows they want to do it to themself enough times over and over again whenever they get like this. But nothing comes, and they sit more comfortably on the ground with their legs folded underneath them, and they keep their head lowered.

"Not what I'm called," they try. They don't feel very funny in the moment, but with tears already rolling down their face and anything more complex buried underneath everything else, they have to take what they can get.

"... his name. It. Was Mikhail. He doesn't have one anymore. Industrial accidents never happen back home, you see. If seven hundred pounds of yellow-hot steel landed on a child, it was obviously the result of saboteurs." The vitriol drips from her tongue as easily as breathing, and she puts a hand to her heart. "I... He was that friend. I will tell you the secret to my success after that."

And now, she knelt down close, and whispered into Hope's ear, still struggling to maintain Supernova. How long has she been in it? The hate she feels at herself echoes in her tone. "I obeyed all the punishments Danno gave me, I threw my tantrums at my tutor Albrecht, until at last, one day, I felt... Nothing. My heart, frozen in place, continued. I proceeded like that. You may, too, if you let it happen. You will be armored from the sorrow, sank into the cold, lost and disconnected. And you will continue. Step by painful step, oh, you will continue."

"It will give you at least three, long, fearless years, that feel like an eternity, that make your passions into ash in your mouth. But. You will not feel the grief. You will not feel the pain, as I am. As you are." She stands. "The option waits, if you truly wish it. I. am not happy. I may never be happy. But I live. And so long as I do..."

Her eyes turn to the entrance. "Then I may still act."

Edited 2025-06-11 05:26 (UTC)

It's hard—impossible, really, to ignore what Natalia is telling them when she's this close, when her words are so clear and full of hatred. Not directed at them, they force their brain to believe, but still loud and clear.

It's because it's so clear, though, that Hope doesn't really want to acknowledge it. They shut their eyes and try to force the tears to stop coming, but they obviously won't ebb that easily. "Shut up," they say, their throat tight. "I can't shut everything out like that. I would've done it years ago." Words are difficult like this, like they've been the whole time, like they're all stopped up inside Hope's chest. There won't be some big speech from this grown adult, from the now-oldest Nova Knight, from the person who's supposed to be some kind of responsible pillar who only feels crumbling and ancient.

"I wish you knew what I had to deal with from myself every single day." It's not even something powerful or biting. It's just pathetic. They're pathetic.

"Good," she says. "My only use now is as a weapon. Live with this however you want. But live, Hope. In a way I cannot."

She makes a motion in front of her, and hums in irritation as she realizes the teleportation is one-way.

Nova Mortis nods. She can tell he will in fact be right back. Or at least, he's going to try. So she waits.

Shelley was expecting at least a little resistance, because that's mostly what he's been getting — this entire ~~planet~~ school has no taste whatsoever — so he's almost taken aback when Kalim goes all in on the glitter paint. Yes. Yes. Yes!!! This is what true art is all about!

"You," he says, with profound gravity, "are an artist with vision."

"Garish?"

It's one thing to disagree with your teacher on aesthetics; it's another to insult him entirely. Shelley snaps his fan open, as though by reflex, and draws himself up to stare down at her.

"Tastes may differ, Miss Koutolikia, but I certainly don't appreciate your tone, nor your name-calling!"

Kalim beams at him. There's some glitter on his cheek.

"Gee, thanks! The glitter is really fun to use, it's so sparkly!"

"Your taste amounts to gluing shells and pearls on it and calling it streampunk, professor." Her hands shape the piece, leaving no finger marks.

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Game Update: May II 2377

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