thenashira | Game Update: June I 2377

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Game Update: June I 2377

Weather & Recap ⭐︎ By Daylight ⭐︎ By Starlight
🎶 Recommended Listening: Like Chimeras - Joel Baylis ft. Shelby Harvey ♪
june i 2377
EPISODE 3: Shall We Dance? A Starlit Step in 3/4 Time!
June 1 - June 7

Weather: It's hot and humid out in Chalra City this month! June brings the songs of cicadas by day and the flickering lights of fireflies at night, to the delight of many a bug catcher. Some days are partially cloudy with a refreshing breeze, but there are plenty of hot and sunny days where your best bet is staying indoors. People are breaking out their seasonal fans, sun hats, and big sunglasses to fend off the sun. Don't forget your sunscreen! The highs for the month average around 86°F/30°C, with lows around 70°F/21°C.

Recap: The historic Golden Butterfly bathhouse was at risk of going out of business when some mysterious and trendy new bath salts appeared. This seemed to help business, but it quickly became apparent that this was yet another energy harvesting plot by the enemy. Meanwhile, the Nova Knights were finally able to track down Niangniang, and after rescuing her, discovered that she is in fact Maomao, a classmate of some of the Nova Knights. Who knew the cat was reincarnated as a human too! Maya and Hope, however, were captured by Shellustria and trapped in the Abyss.

BY DAYLIGHT
⭐︎ The Golden Butterfly Bathhouse is no longer on the verge of closing! While business isn't exactly booming, there are quite a few new return customers. The supply of mysterious bath salts seems to vanish as readily as it appeared, and Maomao has arranged a new supplier for Granny Chocho. Yes, that supplier is her (father's) pharmacy, and yes, it has actually improved business!

⭐︎ Beach season has officially begun! Weekend traffic has skyrocketed now that everyone's headed to the beach on their days off. Chalra City's many shops are now selling swimsuits, towels, umbrellas, and any other beach accessory you can think of! The city is in full summer swing, too, with street vendors now selling bottled water, cold packs, and shaved ice for anyone who needs relief from the heat. Make sure you stay hydrated!

⭐︎ Another week, another craze in Chalra City — despite the heat, spontaneous dance parties known as flash mobs have been popping up in the shopping district. Usually a gathering of ten to twenty people, with at least one of them invariably carrying a boom box blasting tunes, they gather on a street corner or pedestrian walkway and break out into energetic dance in a variety of styles. It only lasts for the length of a single song, and then they then immediately disperse. Confusing, but exciting!

⭐︎ Nova Pandora and Nova Glimmer are trapped in the Abyss, which means their civilian identities are also missing! Maomao is able to cover for Maya by lying to the madam, while Natalia tells the school that Hope is suffering from one of the many recent cases in Chalra City of what can only be called "the vapors". But who knows how long those excuses will hold, or when they'll be able to get Pandora and Glimmer back?

BY STARLIGHT
⭐︎ Hideout Status: Now that Maomao has awakened as the reincarnation of Niangniang, she can be found hanging out in the hideout a few afternoons/evenings a week. While she seems exceedingly reluctant to participate in this special destiny, her tune quickly changes when she discovers the ancient seed collection in the Library. It contains seed samples of thousands of plants from an eons-dead world, and using the hydroponic garden, it might actually be possible to regrow some Hassalean plants on Earth. Who knows what unique properties they have? At any rate, this is Maomao's new special project and the main thing getting her to come to the hideout.

This doesn't come as a surprise to Nautis, as apparently Niangniang's actual role on the Nashira was the assistant to the ship's doctor, and she had an affinity for botanical experiments even as a cat. Nautis doesn't seem to be especially thrilled to have Maomao around, even if she is glad to have her missing data back. She seems to resent Maomao for it even though she was the one to use Maomao's soul as overflow storage in the first place...?

⭐︎ Intel: Nautis finally has the data she needs to start tracking the missing Star Map fragments, which will allow her to upgrade everyone's dowsing machines to track Star Map activity. Nautis explains that each fragment of the Star Map actually represents a Constellation from the Hassalean Zodiac. There are seven loose Constellations in total, and the Nova Knights will have to locate all of them to complete the Star Map and seal away the Abyss.

⭐︎ Another Awakening: On June 3, Nautis alerts the group chat to the awakening of a new Nova Knight! It seems that the awakening pulse she sent out didn't activate everyone right away, probably due to the fact that she's not operating at full power. Who knows how many other Nova Knights might be out there, yet to awaken?

Once Nova Pastos has been awakened, Nautis adds him to the (mandatory) group chat and invites him to the hideout, encouraging the rest of the gang to drop by and meet him sometime. You'll be fighting together, after all!

⭐︎ Trapped in the Abyss: On May 30, Nova Pandora and Nova Glimmer ran afoul of Shellustria and have been trapped in the Abyss. Nautis has alerted all the Nova Knights, but they'll remain in the Abyss for the entire week.

After a short and brutal battle, Pandora and Glimmer find themselves transported to an empty, howling wasteland steeped in eternal night. The moon hangs eerily low in the sky, and seems to loom ever closer as the week wears on, the only sign of the passage of time. It looks like no place they would recognize on Earth, but there is a vague, uneasy sense of familiarity to it all the same.

As Pandora and Glimmer wander through the Abyss, they'll find that they can't come out of supernova — whatever magic that allows them to transform back to regular human form seems to be jammed here. They don't seem to need to eat during their time in the Abyss, but sleep is hard to come by; in fact, the endless night makes it increasingly difficult to tell how much time has even passed since they arrived here.

The Abyss seems utterly devoid of life, and yet, they may encounter twisted reflections of people they know, including other Nova Knights. It's also possible for Pandora and Glimmer to become separated while in the Abyss...sounds like a bad time!

(In other words: other characters can thread with Maya and Hope while they're in the Abyss, but only as apparitions in the Abyss. Their real selves are still very much out in the world and not in contact with the Abyss.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

a. bummin' around the base (starlight)
The thing is, she's been avoiding Nova Pandora ever since the really awkward conversation they'd had last month, and now that Nova Pandora is gone, captured by the Abyss...Nova Mortis feels really guilty about it. She's not sure how, but something inside of her is saying it's her fault. If she'd just been a better teammate, then somehow...

She always has a low-key bummed-out aura around her when she's just hanging out, but she seems...a little extra sad. She hasn't been seen with her guitar in the hideout — the will to play around the other Nova Knights has dwindled, and when she's not sure what else to do, she stares at some of the books on a shelf in the Library. She should probably be doing...some kind of research, right?

b. out on the town (daylight)
Even if her band isn't playing together anymore, Mutsumi hasn't stopped playing. She needs the guitar, even if they don't need her. And maybe...just maybe, when Sakiko is feeling better, they can reunite the band.

So it's to that end that she's at the music store, picking up a new set of strings and reupping on the supplies she needs to give the fretboard a proper cleaning. While she doesn't go for the most expensive stuff, it's pretty clear from her product choices that she is way less concerned about money than the average high school guitarist.

Mutsumi is always unassuming and quiet, but she was on TV recently alongside her mother for an interview about Minami Mori's latest feature film — even if you don't know her from school, you might still recognize her face.

c. wildcard!

The worst part of all this is that Mutsumi doesn't really have anyone to talk to. She hasn't in a while, not since her best friend stopped coming to this school, stopped talking to her very much at all. Maybe she might have been able to turn to Nova Zenith, but that's the whole problem — she's felt shaken ever since they lost him to the Abyss, and no one else has been any real comfort. It's not their fault, it's just...how it is. They're all still figuring this out as they go.

And now Pandora and Glimmer have been captured, too, and she can't help but feel guilty for it. She'd been avoiding Pandora for the last few weeks, but...what if that's it? What if Pandora and Glimmer are lost for now the way Zenith is, and that was the last real conversation Mutsumi ever had with Pandora?

She's starting to spiral hard. She could hardly focus in class, and now that she's in the school garden, a place that's supposed to be something like a safe haven, she's just staring into space as the water from the outdoor tap fills her watering can and starts to overflow.

Jamil's been unsettled recently as well. He's an old, deft hand at covering for it, so he's confident nobody has noticed, but as much as he pretends otherwise he's just as disturbed by Pandora and Glimmer's disappearance as the rest. He doesn't have a particular desire to be a nice person, but he's still bothered by some of the things he said to Pandora before they vanished.

And it isn't as though he's the type to want to talk about his troubles ever, but it is lonely with how few people know the truth. He certainly isn't going to bring it up with Kalim, even if they are technically in the same situation. But when he sees Mutsumi in the school garden in an obvious state, it's hard not to be affected.

He's coming up to her before he has a chance to think about it. It's automatic to be nicer to people when he's a civilian; it's part of his role. That's what he tells himself as he approaches.

"Are you all right, Mutsumi?" he says quietly, not wanting to startle her. "I think you have plenty of water by now."

Mutsumi is a little startled anyway, snapping out of her reverie and spilling some water on her shoes. It's not you, Jamil, she just has the temperament of a baby deer.

She frowns a little, pouring some of the water back into the basin. She doesn't seem to mind the fact that her socks are wet, but it's clear she has other things on her mind. She tightens both hands around the handle of the watering can.

"Jamil..." Like always, she somehow speaks at the most barely audible volume possible. She's really not sure what to say. She can't say she's not okay — she has to be. With their numbers almost down by half, she can't afford to buckle now. Even if she's tired, even if she's too stressed to sleep, even if, even if. This is the role that has been presented to her, and she must play it to the end.

None of this makes it out of her head, however. All she says is, "We're already losing."

Jamil doesn't really know what to say to that. He's never been very good at comforting people in general, and this is actually a situation he isn't sure how to handle himself. And honestly, while he'd met Mutsumi Wakaba before all this and they're currently teammates, he doesn't feel he knows the girl all that well.

In the end, all he knows to do is fall back on platitudes.

"Don't say that." He smiles at her as warmly as he can make his face look. "We still have plenty of Knights, and I'm sure we'd know if anything worse happened to them. Everything will be fine."

Jamil's smile is comforting, but there's a part of her deep inside that feels cold and afraid, untouched by any comfort. Mutsumi doesn't know what to do with that. She's a hero now; heroes aren't supposed to feel so paralyzed.

There are only four of them now, and they're all scared. Aren't they? How can Jamil sound so confident when it feels like the odds are overwhelmingly against them? It must be something she's lacking. She's supposed to be able to take on the hard things, isn't she? A suffocating feeling wells up in her, unbearably familiar, and she squeezes her eyes shut for a moment. No. She can take this on. With just a sliver of renewed resolve, she looks back up at Jamil.

"What do we do?"

She hasn't been sleeping much lately, or very well, at least. More than one night spent sitting up on the couch in the hideout, holding her guitar until she finally nodded off.

Nova Mortis is feeling kind of at a loss lately in general. Losing Nova Zenith just a couple of weeks after they had all come together had been hard, but now Pandora and Glimmer are trapped in the Abyss too. She can't sleep at home, though, even surrounded by her stuffed toys and comforts, so sometimes she warps to the hideout late at night, even when it's empty of other people, and just sits on the couch, holding her guitar. She still wears the lace mask, even though she knows that her identity wouldn't be revealed even if she took it off. It's just...more comfortable.

But tonight, it's not empty — in fact, there are...what look to be a bunch of puppets and dolls in varying states of completion. Silently, she pokes her head around the corner to see further into the hideout. She's been kind of in a fog for the last week, but Nautis had mentioned someone new...

Her eyes will meet another pair--wide, bright blue, and staring.

They don't blink.

This is because they don't belong to a human being--they belong to a grinning(?) doll with long, flexible limbs, which are wrapped around the neck and arm of an actual human being, the doll's head resting on the man's shoulder and conveniently(?) tilted just right to stare directly at Nova Mortis as she peers around the corner.

The man doesn't notice her for at least a second or two; he's busy sewing. He's also wearing triangular sunglasses indoors at night, which is... some kind of choice.

But he does notice her, eventually. He turns as though to look at his doll, and then notices her. It's obvious he's noticed her because he goes completely still, except for his hands--where he narrowly avoids stabbing himself in the thumb with the needle.

From Dirk's perspective, he was having a perfectly chill, calm evening working on a doll with his pal Cal when some kind of horror movie girl in a mask who might as well have crawled out of a TV came creeping around the corner to stare at him without saying a fucking word.

He doesn't say anything, either. He stares at her. Silent. Still. Impassive. Tense as all fuck.

".........."

Nova Mortis blinks when she realizes she's staring at a doll, but seems more confused than unnerved. It's the funky sunglasses at night in an underground base that give her pause. But the Nova Knights is already full of, uh, colorful personalities, so this is...probably par for the course. No one's ever brought a bunch of art projects down here before, but Nova Sunbeam managed to get a whole couch down here somehow. Besides, if there was something to be worried about, Nautis would have said something, right...?

It's just that no one else has awakened since the seven of them came together, and now they've lost Nova Zenith and they're down another two Knights, and Nova Mortis realizes that she doesn't really know how to feel about it. So she just stares back silently, unsure of what else to do.

".................."

Dirk, meanwhile, is still trying to figure out what this cursed chick is about. His first monster experience was a bipedal boba tea that tried to body slam into the dirt, so this isn't exactly 'par for the course' in thematics, but it isn't NOT some kind of fucked up.

Is he being threatened? Is this an ally? The two aren't even mutually exclusive, and as the seconds tick onward, the silence hanging over them begins to gain weight and pressure.

He also hasn't moved, or spoken. It's as though she's staring at a statue.

"......."

At least she saw him moving before he saw her. Otherwise this could be really weird.

In the back of her mind, Mutsumi acknowledges that this guy's ability to just Not Move is impressive. She barely moves, either, but in a way that seems unconscious, almost as though returning to some default setting. She herself seems more like a doll than a person in this moment, ready to be posed for whatever the scene demands for her next.

She just has no idea what that is or even if she should venture deeper into the hideout, because she's no longer certain that Nautis's judgment is totally sound. She can feel the pressure bearing down on her like suffocation, locking her down all the more completely, and she just keeps on watching the other Knight, waiting for her cue.

"............."

Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that Mutsume is breathing--and looking with those wet, living eyes, and all the rest--the resemblance to an inanimate object would be pretty comforting to him.

Instead, it's just sort of uncanny.

Which is more or less the same effect that OTHER people usually get from him and Cal, not that he has the insight to realise this.

Actually, her immobility is sort of effective; he puts down his guard enough to lay down the puppet and threaded needle--which he very specifically and purposefully inserts directly into the poor thing's ass cheek.

Then he shrugs a shoulder, which causes Cal to nod at her. A greeting.

He still doesn't speak, but at least it's communication. Of a sort.

When he finally moves, Nova Mortis takes this as tacit confirmation that it's okay for her to emerge from around the corner. When she does, she's holding a glittery pink guitar in her arms. This does not seem to match the rest of her Death Aesthetic, and yet, this is her weapon. She takes a couple of near-silent steps into the lounge.

She nods at Cal and then Dirk in turn, as though it would be impolite to gloss over the puppet that greeted her. Even if she knows it's a puppet. She...had kind of expected the hideout to be empty at this hour so that she could do her usual unhealthy thing of just sitting and holding her guitar until she falls asleep upright. But she doesn't want to go home just yet, so instead she sits down on the couch (at the opposite end, she doesn't know how big his personal space bubble is and he's clearly got his own thing going on) and starts picking out rapid scales on her guitar. Quietly.

I'm sorry this got long because I was multitasking and I looked back and WORDS

string_instrument - 2025-07-07 00:05 (UTC) - Expand

never apologize for such beautiful tags

avemortis - 2025-07-07 00:26 (UTC) - Expand

Are you sure,

string_instrument - 2025-07-08 15:21 (UTC) - Expand

did i fucking stutter

avemortis - 2025-07-08 15:38 (UTC) - Expand

Mutsumi Wakaba

closed to Jamil

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closed to Natalia

Re: closed to Natalia

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