Nova Justicar & Nova Vortex have joined the group chat

[nashiranpcs]

Who: Nautis and the group chat
What: Announcing the awakening of Nova Justicar & Nova Vortex!
When: July 3
Where: Any electronic device on your person

> Shine on, Nova Knights! I bet you're all ready for some good news for once, right?
> I mean, everyone's tired of feeling outnumbered and outmatched by the bad guys even though we basically outnumber them three to one, right?
> Seriously. It's a real morale killer.
> Well, the cavalry has arrived!
> And one of them is a tall glass of dark and handsome (˵ ¬ᴗ¬˵)
Nova Justicar has been added to the group chat.
> Everyone say hello to Nova Justicar! He's 46 years old, enjoys long walks in the dark, and he's incredibly talented at [REDACTED]
> [REDACTED]
> [REDACTED]
> And oh, Nautis, you say! What's that? There's ANOTHER one???
> Finally, the median age of this group has achieved legal majority \(‾▿‾\) (/‾▿‾)/
Nova Vortex has been added to the group chat.
> Please also welcome...Nova Vortex!
> She brings enough energy to match the whole team! And then some!
> And no, she does not come with a mute button. Or a pause button. Or an anything button.
> Honestly, the fact that you organics don't come with any kind of remote control is pretty annoying.
> I mean, don't you think it's kind of unfair? That it only works one way?
> Do you know how it feels to be the only computer here? And then if you decided that you were done talking to me and didn't want listen to me anymore, you could just turn me off?
> JK! You can't turn me off ^_^ Nautis is here to stay! ♪♪♪ ヽ(･ˇ∀ˇ･ゞ)
> Anyway, you guys should all try and meet the new Nova Knights in the base sometime and get to know each other!
> We can have a little mingle party. A little meet and greet. Who wants to get the tiny umbrellas?

NOTE: I won't be responding as Nautis for bandwidth reasons (much as I would love to), but please feel free to use this post for related group chat/text post shenanigans. Go wild!

Comments

[kneecapshot]

Hello. This is Nova Justicar. If there is anything I need to be briefed on please let me know.

[theriflespiral]

What's your baseline?

[kneecapshot]

I know the basics. Transformed once. Been to the base once. Haven’t fought anything yet.

[theriflespiral]

Understood. Background: it appears that most magic is extraterrestrial in origin, and also seems to form along conceptual lines-- your "Element". Discovering and operating within your own definition of your Element is important to success with magic, though I'm afraid that this is one position where I am not a natural.

OpFor is "The Abyss", a conceptual, coterminal dimension whose emotional and physical entropy far outstrips our own. Currently, its catspaws, "The Harbingers", are presumed to be relatively human beings, like us, who have made pacts with it.

So far, we've been up against one Harbinger in particular, Prince Shellustria, a.k.a. overdramatic arts professor Shelley Lustre. We have figured out that his Element is "Glamour", and he uses it to set up illusions and monsters related to beauty, art, and performance.

There is another, unknown Harbinger, and likely at least one more collaborator. The confirmed Harbinger's element is "Dream", and that's all we know so far. However, it's unlikely that either "Dream" or "Glamour" can come up with the most common form of monster we've faced to date: Monsters disguised as various drinks. sneaky bastards.

[kneecapshot]

That is… a much clearer explanation than the one I got originally, honestly. Thank you.

…what do you mean, ‘disguised as drinks’?

[theriflespiral]

I mean that, in order, we have faced:
-- a coffee monster, human-size, shaped like a demitasse cup, at a cafe, after emerging from a gout of steam from the espresso machine
-- a boba monster, from a cup after being heat sealed
-- an energy drinks beast, from a vending machine
-- a smoothie monster, exploding out of a blender

there have been way too many drinks monsters to date. They look goofy and they're kind of chumps but the element of surprise has led to injuries.

[fibrillate]

Hi, Justicar.
Nova Pandora here.
Do you do anything else for fun?

[kneecapshot]

Hello. I—

[There’s a brief pause. ‘Drinking’ isn’t exactly a hobby he wants to advertise, and anyway, he isn’t doing that anymore.]

I read. And go on walks. What do you like to do?

[fibrillate]

Oh, a little of everything.
Jack of all trades, master of none, you know.
But I mostly play FPSes... when I'm not taking care of my fish, at least.

[kneecapshot]

[John makes a small face. He'd never understood the draw of shooting games--not after he'd handled most of the hardware they feature in real life. But he's trying to get information out of these people, and this is as good a place to start as any.]

That sounds nice. What games do you like to play? What kind of fish do you have?

[fibrillate]

I have five... four, sorry, neon tetras that I take care of, and I want to expand my aquarium one of these days, but I don't have a lot of space.
It's why I'm so grateful that our hideout has an aquarium too! It's incredible to imagine the kinds of things we must have once kept in there.
Once it's ready to house some fish again, I'm definitely going to fill it up as much as I can.
As for games, it's mostly the team shooters... you know, plunked down with either two or four other people I've never met before who are all trying to work towards the same goal.
Lately it's almost been like training for teaming up with all the new Nova Knights coming in!

[string_instrument]

Don't touch the machinery in the hideout.

It's not dangerous. Just don't mess with it.

Now that's out of the way, I'm Nova Pastos. Nice to see another actual adult on board. Gotta ask what's with all those [REDACTED]s, though.

And I am actually asking. I love an unreliable narrator as much as the next guy (and by definition, all narrators are going to be unreliable) but Nautis doesn't even try to play it straight. So, what's your deal? Or is that the bit?

[kneecapshot]

You mean all the puppets? I’ll leave them alone.

[He was planning to anyway, because honestly, he’s not sure he wants to know what they’re for.]

I’m a very private person.

[string_instrument]

I don't know who told you to call them that. But I'll let that slide.

Anyway, you're a private person. That's cool. Me too. I didn't ask if you were married, though. I'm asking what you're about. What do you do? I think that's a pretty reasonable ask when you're on a team with people who are relying on you.

[kneecapshot]

It’s complicated. But I have applicable skills, mostly in combat and anything covert that needs doing. You can rely on me.

[string_instrument]

Combat and anything covert. Vague, and yet when combined with the 'private person' comment and redaction jokes, it paints an incredibly unambiguous picture.

It's almost like an infosec tutorial: how not to keep your cover.

It's not your fault Nautis set you up like that, but I still haven't been hit that hard with the obvious since I blew a pressure gauge on that hydraulics compressor.

Anyway, either you're some kind of military gig, or you're an overly-intense hobbyist with a vested interest in playing the part. The convenient thing for you is that it doesn't actually matter which.

[kneecapshot]

[You can meet Reese--well, Nova Justicar--in person too! He's at the base, in full Nova Knight transformation, methodically cleaning and sharpening a small set of knives he's keeping in a lockable case. He's entirely quiet, and the grind of the whetstone against the blade is soothing. If you're him, anyway. Please interrupt him!]

[parillegal]

[please interrupt him? well, Maya's going to do just that. she's sliding in to the hideout just to decompress today, to find familiar faces instead of customers, but when she finds her way in, it's just... some guy with knives.]

Oh.

Hi.

[from the doorway, Maya, still not glamored up as Glimmer, starts walking immediately over as if invited, to peer over those knives.]

Ooh, those look sharp!

[kneecapshot]

Hello. [Reese looks up to acknowledge her and nods in greeting, but does not otherwise stop what he's doing.]

That's the idea.

[parillegal]

A sharp knife is a safe knife, I guess,

[Maya doesn't get so close that she'd be in the way of his light or anything, but she is rather nosily observing.]

So, are they youuur super weapon or is this just like, a hobby?

[kneecapshot]

[Justicar seems utterly unperturbed as long as she doesn't try to touch anything.]

This is mostly a hobby, or a more practical weapon for when I'm not Nova Justicar. My primary weapon is a blaster. And you?

[theriflespiral]

[Nova Neos, not that Reese knows that yet, brings a bucket of fresh water for the whetstones and sets it next to Nova Justicar.]

[Well. Maybe he knows. Neos's outfit is pretty much the only one that attempts to look like armor.]


Nice set.

[kneecapshot]

Thank you. I acquired them recently and need to bring them up to acceptable condition.

[Justicar accepts the bucket gratefully and nods, then looks more closely at Neos' young, serious face.]

...Nova Neos, perhaps? I'm Nova Justicar.

[theriflespiral]

Indeed.

[There's a brief pause.]

Apologies if I'm not what you were expecting.

[kneecapshot]

Not at all. [He actually smiles a little.] I had the initial impression that the rest of the Nova Knights would be a bit closer to my own age, so it's been a general surprise, but I'm hardly disappointed.