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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The worst part is— Maya lights up at the explanation, like she and Natalia are old friends, or something. She claps her hands together as if in prayer, grinning ear to ear.

"Oh hey! I'm training you! Your trainer's me! You're my student today!"

She tilts her head back to the side, still grinning brightly, but doing up the casual attitude as she continues;

"Wow, who'd have guessed the tables would turn so fast? Now it's my turn to be the teacher."

Maya is immediately convinced that this is going to be fun.

RIP, Natalia.

and thats why i'm here to bring you to the no-thoughts zone!

what do you like to do? if u don't pick i'll make you take me to a stage show instead✨

oh, or maybe an action movie?

It's not like Maya thinks it's good— or okay, really— to not think about it forever. But getting out of the dwelling zone can be really tough. Sometimes funerary assistance had involved sitting with certain clients in their grief. Other times, especially when kids were around, it involved giving them a break from it.

If Maya can manage to give her new teammates— her new friends— anything, she's sure it's that.

Oh no. What is she going to do about this? She briefly pales, actually, the fear and anger shooting through her as memories, unbidden, of months of punishment details and strength training and lectures and marks that would fade rise unbidden in her heart, turning what had been mere anticipation into a roiling storm of worry. "Th. Then please, treat me kindly," she replies.

She bows, formally, like one might to a martial arts instructor.

This correction very clearly makes zero impact on Kalim whatsoever.

"Oh, okay. Well, it looks really pretty either way! D'you use a lot of glitter when you make stuff?"

Maya bows in return, responding with a;

"Please, count on me going forward!"

And then she grasps Natalia by the arm, dragging her around to the back.

"First things first! I need to get changed, aaaaand you need to see where we do that. Let's go!"

It feels so special being tasked by the madame with this— like Maya's really fitting in as part of the work force. Now that it's her turn to pay the acts of her new 'sisters' forward, Maya's eager and excited to take Natalia on.

There's a moment of resistance where Natalia has to try and decide whether or not she's willing to go along with Maya by being pulled by her arm, but...

... it's...

It's kind of nice? It's a gentle bit of work, exuberant but not intentionally painful.

At least there's a lot fewer people staring today. Maybe they're not open yet? She's still pretty tall, for a girl.

And, small favors, changing rooms are changing rooms everywhere. This one has an old fashioned feeling to its lockers, but that's not a problem for Natalia in the slightest. "Well. I might need to change, regardless, but thank you for showing me."

Edited 2025-06-16 05:25 (UTC)

Unfortunately, Jamil is in fact present at the scene in the form of Nova Crescent, and he feels his soul leave his body when he sees what Kalim brought back. It is definitely an antique. A one-of-a-kind heirloom antique, in fact, and one Jamil had begged Kalim not to bring to the penthouse precisely to avoid this exact scenario.

Even worse, Nova Crescent can't possibly say anything about that without blowing his cover. His only recourse is to be an asshole about it, and he does so by suddenly appearing to pluck the drum right out of Kalim's outstretched hands.

"This is obviously far too delicate an object to be handled by someone like you. Don't you have a box you can hit?"

Jamil sure doesn't! He stares at his painting for a few moments, trying very hard not to get frustrated. He might be a deliberately average student, but he is still supposed to be a well-behaved one.

"I'm not entirely sure how to... capture panache in a painting of a lamp, sir," he says, feeling a little petulant.

Action movie sounds good
I'm already out so we can just meet up at the theater or whatever

They're being more curt than they'd like to be, especially when Maya is just trying to help them out. But everything just feels like... it's the only way they can react right now, which is miserable in its own right. They're already on the way out of the net café and hoping that they run into Maya fast so they can actually talk instead of flailing around inside their own head. They're not listening to anything in particular when they spin up their Walkman and block out the rest of the world with their big ear-covering headphones, but they just kind of look miserable.

Already on my way there
Thanks.

"Since elementary school."

It's hard to tell if she was enjoying herself — her expression is about the same. It's only the way she holds her guitar, the intent and focus with which she picks out every note, that speaks to how much she cares. Unsure what else to do, she just starts playing another song; sorry if you don't know this one, Hope, but this is kind of the only way she knows how to connect with anyone right now.

If this were a cartoon, steam would literally be rising from Shelley's head. Fortunately this is a cartoon, and he looks real mad. The fact that she's starting to sculpt a seashell is not enough to temper his self-righteous fury.

"Principal's office, Miss Koutolika! And I will be speaking with her later!"

"The light," Shelley says with increasing desperation, as though his life depends on Jamil understanding him and his confidence is not great. "The very heart and soul of a lamp! Why pick such a dazzling subject if you're only going to turn it into something flat and lifeless?"

"Have fun with that, sir. I expect a report on your conference on my desk Monday morning." She gently sets the clay off-center and only resists the urge to throw the wheel, sending a lump of clay into Shelley's poor, noble body, by way of the fact that surely the next student won't resist the urge to spin it.

With that, she stands up, washes her hands, and leaves the art room.

Nova Mortis had meant to play something else, but it's as though her fingers move on their own. She taps one foot to set the rhythm for Natalia, and she repeats the intro just once, as if coming to her from deep beneath the surface of sleep. When she starts to sing, her voice is barely audible over the guitar, lacking in confidence, but the words she knows by heart. She doesn't have to think about them.

"My heart grown numb with cold, my gaze trembling
I'm all alone in this world
All I knew of spring was falling petals
Every year, I was treated so coldly..."

She's surprised at herself. She didn't mean to start playing this song of all songs, let alone sing it. She almost wants to stop, but she doesn't know how. She hasn't played this song since they disbanded, but it's never been far from memory.

"In the darkness, one a one-way road
I just kept on scribbling down words
Even though I know that expectation will only bring disappointment
I kept on searching for salvation..."

Neos does not have the drum set for proper rhythm, but she can keep rhythm with her hands, and the tap of stone on metal-- how does she know where the floor would make that rich bit of deep reverb?-- provides a measure if she claps on the last beat.

The harmonies are things that she's never heard-- how could she? But simply keeping the rhythm steady is taking up enough of her time, kinesthetics and precision and concentration blending into a moment where she's very nearly the music.

But... It's too perfect. Like a drum machine told to make a tom loop with claps and taps and the industrial sound of the floor of the Nashira.

Edited 2025-06-20 17:56 (UTC)

Maomao just tilts her head in lieu of a shrug. "It's fine. If all else fails, I'll ask Pops to take a look."

Her father's got plenty going on, but it wouldn't hurt to be thorough. And Maomao doesn't have "friends", so to speak. But she...doesn't mind Natalia's company...? Yeah. That's close enough.

Ohhh. Ohhhhh no. She has seen that drum before. There is ONE person in the world that she knows that has that exact drum because she has seen it in that person's apartment. She is getting a sinking feeling that she knows this person.

This is Kalim. It has to be. She can't confirm it — she doesn't see Kalim when she looks at him — but Nautis explained how this works and Nova Mortis, though not always the brightest crayon in the box, can put two and two together most of the time. This must be him. And Jamil must not have known, or else she's sure he would have stopped Kalim from bringing it here in the first place. He must be worried that the priceless drum has been stolen — no wonder he seems so agitated. Nova Mortis looks between the two of them uncertainly, increasingly stressed out.

"Um...you could clap your hands."

"Aw, hey!" Sunbeam reaches for the drum, but not very energetically – it is an antique, and he doesn't want it to get dropped. (If he thought Crescent was Jamil, he'd try harder in the assumption that Jamil would make sure nothing went wrong.) "I've played it loads of times! It's my favourite drum." He turns to Mortis. "It would totally sound great with your guitar! We'd have a blast, I know it!"

(While Sunbeam is distracted by Mortis, Crescent takes the opportunity to put the drum in a corner somewhere that will hopefully escape Sunbeam's notice for the rest of the evening. Later on he'll smuggle it back to the penthouse and Kalim will presumably never know the difference.)

"Thank you. That's the trouble with traditional medicines, sometimes; it means you have to be very careful and very particular on your own recognizance." To the lockers they drift.

In this school full of philistines, Shelley is willing to take it.

"Sometimes," he says judiciously, tapping the tip of his fan to his chin. "But it's good to think outside the box. Have you ever considered sequins?"

Kalim's face lights up.

"I love sequins!!" He does. He loves sequins so much. "You think I should put some of those on this guy...?"

He wouldn't have thought of it... but he can see the vision...!

"Do you want to tell me why you're in my office, Miss Koutolika?" Maisie Gala might consider herself severe and down to earth, but Natalia considered her politely soft. To her, teaching was a job like any other, and science was something you paid someone else to do and eventually new things came out.

It was all very reminiscent of the Old Country to Natalia, really. Hardly worth mentioning.

So, Natalia sat down, and said, bluntly, "Accurately called Professor Lustre's taste garish."

Headmistress Gala paused and blinked. "Surely that cannot have been the only thing."

"Oh, he attempted to give me one of his lectures," Natalia replied. "I've heard worse from better. Doesn't change he'll brighten the minute you glue a shell on a greeting card."

"Miss Koutolika. I cannot condone backtalk to teachers," Headmistress Gala said, looking her square in the eyes.

"I'm sure you won't," Natalia shrugged. They hadn't even made her do pushups yet. This was milquetoast. "It doesn't change the man throws a tantrum every time someone does something not according to his tastes. I had thought them mere rumor before someone else signed me up for this. He goes around demanding every student add glitter and braze foil on."

"Well. Brazing is an appropriate skill to learn for an artist," she replies, with a certain level of tact. "Regardless. I can't just let you run rampant through the campus sassing the faculty on your own say so."

"What do you propose? Two days without lunch? A thirst ban? Ah, perhaps a ceremonial beating--"

"Miss Koutolika. I understand that you are from a land where such things are applauded, but that is beyond the pale!"

"Not applauded," Natalia says, voice in a dangerous tone of anger. "Merely quietly borne."

"... Perhaps you should see a counselor."

"Would we had one," she replies, with fire in her eyes and a firm expression. "But I take your meaning. Go on. What shall it be, to keep me in that class, which I remind you I did not sign up for? What can you possibly put out that I have not already felt?"

"Rather fatalistic of you to say."

"Professor Lustre expects some punishment he may lord over me yet. Perhaps you shall dip me in glue and pour sand on me. He'd like that."

"Please take this seriously!" Natalia saw this as much as begging for mercy from her sense of humor as a genuine plea to understand the consequences. "This is your education."

"I am. The man does not wish to teach. You know my history. You know why, after having experienced one of his tantrums, this scene will repeat until the contest is over or I, or he, are gone."

"... I have a counter-proposal. You still aim to follow through on this contest?"

"I would prefer not to."

"Let me rephrase that: you will follow through on this contest. Because I believe you can express yourself far better than this. If necessary, I will even rent you the pottery room after classes. But you will fire an artwork and you will enter."

"... headmistress?"

"This is your punishment. Make him have to think about disqualifying your work. Because he will. And I will see it for myself."

"... And I will not have to return to his class?"

"Indeed not."

"Done."

Edited 2025-06-21 01:46 (UTC)

Hope can't pick this song out, but they're more than content to just listen, to watch—to observe an actual expert in her craft, as far as they're concerned. They make it a surprisingly long way through watching and listening before the very familiar feeling of "you could be like this too if you just did something" creeps into their thoughts, and they feel it sinking deep into their chest, and the smile fades.

"I did it for a few weeks," they say, their tone somber but not quiet enough to sink into the background noise. "Then I gave up on it because I wasn't great at it. Silly, isn't it? No one starts out being great at something. I mean, you didn't, right?"

Ohh that's a relief. Nova Mortis relaxes a little, nodding, and looks sidelong at Kalim.

"...You could sing."

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Game Update: May II 2377

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