Game Update: July II 2377

[nashiramods]

Weather & Recap ⭐︎ By Daylight ⭐︎ By Starlight
🎶 Recommended Listening: Hope On Fire - Vienna Teng ♪
july ii 2377
EPISODE 6: Game Over or New Game+? Dive into the Dark Ocean!
July 17 - July 24

Star Suite: The Lab has been unlocked! All Nova Knights recover a new memory from their past lives, and Nautis has upgraded everyone's dowsing machines to function as tiny walkie-talkies. More details in the post below.
Constellations: Two out of seven Constellations have been captured.
⭐︎ The Nova Knights possess the Dancer
⭐︎ The Harbingers possess the Three Sisters
Weather: Summer is in full swing in Chalra City! July is just as humid as June, but even hotter, and the breeze blowing in from the sea is more beckoning than refreshing. A handful of summer thunderstorms sweep through the city, but most days are hot, hot, hot and sunny. Street vendors selling shaved ice and handmade wind chimes are on every corner, and gleeful water gun fights are a common scene in the city's parks. The highs for the month average around 93°F/34°C, with lows around 75°F/24°C.

Recap: The first half of July saw three new Nova Knights awaken: Nova Justicar, Nova Vortex, and Nova Chroma! In spite of having more hands on deck, though, things haven't exactly gone according to plan. There was mixed success in investigating the source of the strange arguments breaking out all over the city, but they were able to identify this is the work of one of the loose Constellations, the Three Sisters, as well as discover and foil another, much subtler energy harvesting plot by the enemy at Sea & Spray Salon & Spa. The mission to capture the Three Sisters, however, ended in disaster. Nova Pandora, Nova Mortis, and Nova Pastos failed to connect with the spirit of the Constellation, and then failed to prevent it from falling into Prince Shellustria's hands. The Star Map is their only hope of sealing away the Abyss, so the Nova Knights will have to find a way to get it back.

BY DAYLIGHT
⭐︎ Summer break is on its way! The first two weeks of August are summer break for Chalra City schools. Most schools assign homework over the break (bleh), but hey, a vacation is a vacation! Next month will be the perfect time to hit the beach with friends or take a day trip to go sightseeing. If you're an adult...well...hopefully you can take some time off from those tiresome adult responsibilities to enjoy the summer! Even as school and work trudges on, though, there's still a shuttle bus you can take to the beach in your free time, and if you need to cool off without leaving the city, Chalra City has plenty of public pools.

⭐︎ A new video game rental place has set up shop in the train station shopping center! The storefront for The Wonder Junction Two-Day Video Game Rental is fairly tiny — a narrow little closet of a space squeezed between a comic book shop and a Five and Chime variety store, every shelf packed with games for rent, old and new. A comically lazy college student seems to be the only person manning the shop at all times.

There's a new home console craze on with the competing releases of the cartridge-based Prism Plug-N-Play and the CD-ROM-based FortuneCore, and what's more, they have consoles for rent, too! There's a well-curated CD-ROM selection for the discerning PC gamer, and they even have a small selection of those now out-of-date-but-still-kinda-cool VHS board games.

⭐︎ Patrons of the Midnight Diner may hear some lingering rumors from earlier in the month. The chick seller, often seen on many a street corner around Chalra City, can be found at the diner complaining about how he's fallen on hard times. Apparently kids these days are way more interested in virtual pets than real pets, and it's really hurting business! It's been especially bad since that new video game rental store opened up.

In brighter news, however, Pairin and the madam of Verdigris House seem to have settled their contract dispute, and rumors of Pairin taking her celebrity-level popularity to another pleasure house have all but dispersed.

⭐︎ The Smoketree Promenade, a neighborhood in one of the historical districts so named for the peculiar summer blooms of the trees that line the street, is hosting its annual summer event starting this week, Midsummer on the Promenade! For the latter half of July, neighborhood businesses and residents set up stalls along the street selling food and local handmade goods, and people flock to the Smoketree Promenade day and night for some of the city's best street food, outdoor entertainment, and carnival games, including goldfish catching. Atlacian fantail goldfish come in a variety of colors and patterns, which make them a popular pet for collecting!

BY STARLIGHT
⭐︎ Hope's Prophecy: Thanks to their past as a diviner for the Oracle, Hope may occasionally receive prophetic dreams that give the Knights a hint about what's to come. Hope did not have a prophetic dream this time around either, but there's always next time!

⭐︎ Hideout Status: A new part of the crashed ship is now accessible: the Lab! Unlike the Library and the Aquarium, which are fairly low-tech in the grand scheme of ancient magic starships, the Lab is outfitted with an array of arcane science equipment, and it seems to have served as a multipurpose bio lab of some kind. Unfortunately, almost all of the equipment is out of order from centuries of disuse and old battle damage, and the operation manuals in Nautis's databanks are hefty, but there might be something in here that Maomao can use for future experiments.

Every character recovers a memory from their past life: a memory of joy or satisfaction, or the closest thing to it they may have felt. Your characters can share recovered memories if you wish!

Nautis has also upgraded everyone's dowsing machines to act as communicators! They aren't as sophisticated as your cell phones, as they function more like walkie-talkies, but they can connect over great distances and make for easy quick communication, either one-on-one with another Nova Knight or a broadcast to everyone. While they do work outside of supernova, they're far more conspicuous than cell phones, so they're not as practical for use in civilian life. You certainly don't want to risk your teacher taking it away in class!

Now that the Aquarium has been repaired, it's ready to host fish! Of course they don't have any Hassalean fish to hand, but Nautis says that there's no reason they can't host Earth fish.
NOTE: This will be an upcoming mission opportunity.

The Rewards page has been updated with the next Star Suite upgrade: the next room to unlock is the Training Room, and the reward will be a Silver-level Star Suite power and some fun new training activities. Save up those SP!

⭐︎ Maomao's Garden: The team mascot has been content to seclude herself in the Library with the hydroponic garden pretty much all of the time she spends in the hideout. Maomao, despite hanging out in her civilian identity (because she will not bear the indignity of turning into a cat), has little interest in socially engaging with the Nova Knights. She's here to get kicks doing weird xenobotany experiments, and anyone who gets too close to the garden will get a hiss and a powerfully unfriendly stare.

Speaking of weird experiments, she's definitely doing some! It's too early for her to be synthesizing any kind of medicine...because she hasn't finished testing the medicinal properties of any of these plants yet. She is conducting a number of tests on herself — her left arm, which she usually keeps bandaged, is covered in an alarming variety of small injuries. Don't worry, she's cross-referencing botanical texts from the Library, but you can't understate the value of firsthand data. She will be putting all of them in her mouth, probably.

⭐︎ Nautis Updates: Despite her usual upbeat attitude, Nautis seems just as concerned as everyone else about the Constellation falling into enemy hands.

> Well, we might have a full house now, but our problems just keep multiplying (◞‸◟；)
> It's pretty bad news that one of the Constellations has fallen into the enemy's hands. If we don't have all seven Constellations, we won't be able to use the Star Map.
> Or at any rate, I have no idea what would happen if we tried. It's never been done before.
> We have to find a way to take back the Three Sisters from the Harbingers. It's risky, but it's still our best shot.
> I'm currently working on a few potential solutions. As soon as I've finished running some calculations and simulations, I'll update you with the new grand plan! ^_^
> I've been picking up rumors about people collapsing or suffering from severe fatigue for a few days again, which is weird.
> I mean, it sounds like classic Abyss energy harvesting, but this is waaaaaaayyyyy less subtle than the last couple of times.
> With the Constellations in play, it's kind of hard to say...
> Which means it's time for you all to get investigating! (•̀ᴗ•́ )و
> Set aside your worries for now! Don't think so hard about failure! I mean it, really banish all thoughts of doom and gloom from your mind!
> Say it with me: Don't! Think! Bad! Thoughts!!! (￣∇￣ﾉﾉ"
> Oh, and I upgraded all of your dowsing machines! Now you can use them as little communicators ^_^
> Isn't that fun? Doesn't that make you feel better?

⭐︎ Intel: Not only do the Harbingers have possession of one of the Constellations, the Nova Knights have no idea what they plan to do with it. They'll have to do some investigating to find out what the Harbingers' next move is, but in the meantime, there does seem to be another inexplicable outbreak of neurasthenia. The fatigue and headaches only last a couple of days before the patients return to normal, which is pretty consistent with previous energy harvesting plots, but this is a lot less subtle than the operations at Sea & Spray or Duet 77. They'll also need to find out where and how the Harbingers are keeping the Three Sisters, which likely means a dangerous mission to infiltrate their own base.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[nashiramods]

[craft_ionista]

a. in the hideout
The opening of The Wonder Junction was exciting enough, but following Chroma’s conversation with Neos about the lack of available leisure activities in the hideout, it was just too serendipitous to pass up - Mabel immediately spent her allowance renting a Prism Plug-n-Play and a handful of games to bring to the hideout and share.
…The Nashira’s console room is prrrrobably not set up to interface with this new kind of console. Mabel props her hands on her hips, stumped. Boy, it would be handy if someone more technically-adept happened by to help figure out how to make Earth tech work with the Hassalean displays.

((Additionally, Mabel will be hanging out in the hideout (outside of school hours) fairly frequently - and, at any point after the console gets set up, will happily play games with anyone who offers - most likely as herself, not as Nova Chroma. Secret identity? Pshhhh. We’re all on the same team here, right, guys?))


2. on the Promenade
OH MY GOSH A FESTIVAL. You know Mabel is going to catch as many of those dang fish as she can. All the other attractions also hold promise - there’s just so much to do!!

…At the moment, though, Mabel fiddles with her phone, distracted and a bit subdued. Maybe none of the other Nova Knights are willing to be seen with her as their daylight selves? She’d sent out a mass text a few days before:

Hey!! Does anyone wanna meet up at Midsummer on the Promenade next week?
My brother always ditches me because he says I “get distracted too easily”.
And also maybe because last summer I ate too much cotton candy and threw up on his shoes.
But that was AGES ago. He just hates fun.
And you know what WOULD be fun? Getting to know each other a bit better!!!


c. wildcard
((hit me up! put me in, coach! mabel wants to meet all of you))

B

[theriflespiral]

[... you know what?]

I have a friend who has never been to such a thing before. If you're willing to be patient with her she might accompany you.

Re: B

[craft_ionista]

NEVER????
How is that even POSSIBLE?
I mean, a friend of Neos is a friend of mine, of course!
I'm pretty much an expert at these so I can definitely help her out.

Re: B

[theriflespiral]

She did a lot of traveling when she was younger, especially in the summers.

What would be a good day for you?

<b> A </b> "Serendipitous" Meeting

[harlsequinn]

Harley has been a bit absent from the hideout the whole time she's been active as Nova Vortex. She's never really been on a team before, and even after everything went down in the Sea & Spray, she hasn't felt like there's much of a place for her there. It isn't really like her, but something about getting hissed at by a child while trying to talk to your child (his name is Arthur and his bubbles are MAGNIFICENT) just felt... bad. So what if she's been working shifts at the pleasure house to avoid feeling unwanted?

It doesn't much matter anyways - who's going to notice?

Then Nova Chroma went active. If she's started skulking around the hideout trying to talk to the little sprout, that's no one's business but hers (and Jack's, since he's pissed at her not taking shifts, but it always seems she's done something wrong anyways, and she ain't lettin' a kid onto the streets without a little learnin', nosiree). So maybe it isn't exactly a surprise that she finally comes across a lil muffin in the control room.

Harley, in her Vortex Skin, knocks on the doorframe.

"Whatcha got there, kidlet? Takin' down Nautis with a hack attack for..." Harley pauses. "Actually, Nautis was pretty nice to ya, huh? So maybe just inviting Nautis for tea and crumpets? Gotta say, even super powerful machine system intelligenc-y fellas need a crumpet every now 'n then."

Her pause is momentary, but almost immediately broken by-

"Crumpet. Crrrrrumpet! Crumb pet? Crompents. Heckaroni do I love this word. Anyway no for real, whatcha doin'? Oh yeah, and I'm Nova Vortex, I think!"

Re: <b> A </b> "Serendipitous" Meeting

[craft_ionista]

"HELLO!"
Mabel bounces up off the floor, where she was untangling wires. "I'm Mabel! Nice to meet you!" Her broad gesture of greeting is halfway between a wave and a curtsy, or something like that. "I'm setting up a Prism Plug-n-Play! It's the newest way to play games. At home! Or, in your super secret hideout." She winks theatrically, with her whole face. "I was talking to Nova Neos about how there's not that much to do when we're hanging out here, and then this new video game rental store opened up, and I asked super nicely and Nautis said we can use one of these screens!" She turns back to the cables, rummaging for the end of one of them. "I'm not too sure how to plug anything in, though. There aren't exactly power outlets in here."

[theriflespiral]

A. Daylight: To Have Never Been (Daylight)

Of course, anyone with half a brain, who knows Neos's true identity, is going to see and identify this little gem in the group chat and immediately follow the line to some obvious conclusions in hindsight:
1) that Natalia herself has never been to a summer festival before,
2) that Neos's friend is obviously Natalia herself,
3) this presents a unique, if... strange... opportunity.

So.

Who wants to collect Neos's Friend Natalia Koutolika for a summer festival trip?

B: The Crunch (Daylight)
With the term coming to a close within the next two weeks, Natalia is also busy trying to study for the end-of-term mock exam.

The trouble is...

"Hey, Natalia, isn't it? You're studying too, right?"

Ah. Yes. The curse of the top student in a class.

Are you there asking for her help, or trying to drag her away?

The choices are yours, and yours alone!

C: Wildcard
Talk to me in the plotting channel or otherwise for more ideas or a closed thread!

Who Trained Mabel Pines (like Who Framed- you get the picture)

[harlsequinn]

Harley hadn't thought it through when she offered to host gymnastics and/or fighting training in her studio. To be entirely fair, "thinking it through" is very much not current-Harley's MO. The stuck-up once-doc in her brain rails against the disorder, of course.

Harley ignores this in favor of freaking out about snacks.

"Why the fuck do I have so many Tim-Tams here?" she grouses to the blue foam block pit off in the back corner. The foam blocks mock her inadequate snack-lection. Tim-Tams (too many), pretzels (too few), and a big ol' drum of cheez-puffs (too stale). Harley buries her hands into her hair and groans at the ceiling. The ceiling also mocks her, the odd loose pencil that some kid had thrown point first into the ceiling (or did she do that? Hard to say) like tongues stuck out at her in-snack-dequacies.

At least her water filter spout thingamajig is still good. And she doesn't even keep it in her office against the back wall or nothin!' Harley walks over to the back door, retesting the lock to make sure it didn't jam, and then checking her chat message to the Novas, seeing that she did indeed tell them to walk in through the back door, and lift up on the handle or the door won't budge. She then ate a cheez-puff.

It tasted terrible.

Re: Who Trained Mabel Pines (like Who Framed- you get the picture)

[theriflespiral]

Natalia Koutolika is no stranger to floor exercise, and no stranger to this gymnasium in particular. While she'd only been in Atlace a few months and only in Chalra City over that time, she had been much desirous of staying 'on the horse'.

And not long after gaining the trust of that nice young man with too many cats, he'd mentioned that perhaps, Natasha, you could try the place with dirty windows and a lot of hope.

And so she had gone, and quietly come back each week, financed by the man with too many cats in exchange for occasionally having to pull one of said cats out of a tight spot.

Is nice to know a guy, da?

Still, it feels... Wrong, to show up to a clandestine meeting like this. So she watches the sight-lines a second and quietly turns the handle and tries to act more confident than she is. Given her stony face and casual grace, this is not difficult.

Re: Who Trained Mabel Pines (like Who Framed- you get the picture)

[harlsequinn]

Harley (looking like Nova Vortex) is sitting on a questionable clean dingy grey fold-out table, swinging her legs while she waits. The moment she hears the scrape of the handle against the metal of the door, Harley yells, "pull up on the handle!" Stupid busted door being stupid and busted. It's hers, though. Fully hers, with no one holding the reins behind her.

It takes a moment and some jiggling, but the door eventually pops open to a surprisingly familiar face. "Oh, it's- "

fuck fuck FUCK abort Nova Vortex does Not know this pale teen with gymnastics and martial arts training

"-cool that you're the first?" Ya stayed strong Harley good job

Her eyes sweep over the new arrival. "Well shoot, I told my friend who runs this place to scram for a lil trainin' thing, but Harls coulda stuck around for non-costume shenanigans! That girl needs a break anyway." Harley grins broadly under her sequined mask. "So, welcome! Su casa es tu casa, grab a snack if you wanna, don't break anythin' and uhh thanks for comin' by!"

july ii catch-all for mutsumortis

[avemortis]

daylight
Things are...better. Mutsumi still isn't doing great, but she never really looks like she's having a good time. She does look less dead on her feet, though, and she doesn't seem so completely exhausted, no longer looking like she's running on fumes — a lot closer to what passes for normal for her. She isn't falling asleep in class or completely zoning out (dissociating) at school, and she's even started going to the gardens after school again to check on her cucumber plants. She must be getting some actual sleep these days.

Mutsumi is out and about more too, no longer confining her daytime excursions to the trip to and from school. Although she's not the biggest fan of crowds, she pays a visit to the Smoketree Promenade a couple of times during the Midsummer on the Promenade event, mostly to wander around and window shop, but you might find her munching on some street food or (very poorly) attempting to catch a goldfish.

starlight
Something is definitely different about Nova Mortis.

If you haven't had much of a chance to interact with her, you might not notice. But to anyone who's spoken to Nova Mortis for more than five minutes may find her sudden change in demeanor somewhat jarring. Gone is the reticent Nova Knight who struggled to say more than five words at a time at a volume audible to human ears — the new Nova Mortis is not only less gloomy, she's incredibly outgoing and downright cheerful.

Perhaps the most noticeable thing about her is that she's done away with the black lace mask entirely. After all, it's not like it makes a difference when it comes to maintaining their secret identities, and wearing that mask all the time was so stuffy anyway! Another conspicuous change is the total absence of her glittery pink guitar. Instead, she's always carrying a plush doll that looks just like her, down to her supernova outfit. Sometimes she makes conversation with the doll, and it's hard to tell if she thinks she's really talking to someone, or if she's just a very lively player of pretend.

She doesn't want to just talk to her doll, though! She can be found at the hideout reading picture books from the Library, but she'll be much more interested in chatting with other Nova Knights and hearing what they're up to.

"Hey, have you heard about that summer festival thing they're doing on the Smoketree Promenade? It sounds really fun! What if a bunch of us went and checked it out together? I want to catch a goldfish!"

Starlight

[theriflespiral]

There's a moment where Neos, after taking a rest from various of her own tasks in the library, looks up to see a bright, shining Nova Mortis instead of the quiet girl she remembers.

There's a moment where she wonders: her own drastic change had come as a result of thinking something that wasn't tenable; was this actually the case for Mortis as well?

Though-- the suggestion of visiting the Smoketree Festival does have a certain appeal. Even though she's making notes about it in the group chat, she's... never been to a street festival. Still, doing it, uh... Tuesday? Tuesday.

"I'm game, cosplay weirdo spotted near shrines aside."

Re: Starlight

[avemortis]

Neos isn't wrong, is the thing. Things were untenable for Nova Mortis, and it brought about some radical change. It's just not quite the change she's probably imagining.

Mortis beams at Neos's bid of enthusiasm, clapping her hands. "Maybe people will ask to take pictures with us! Besides, lots of people get dressed up for festivals. We're already all dressed up! Shouldn't we get to have fun too?"

It is really hot out during the day, granted, but this doesn't seem to have factored into Mortis's calculations at all.

GROUP CHAT ROOM;

[parillegal]

heyyyy it's ✶⁺˳✧༚glimmer✶⁺˳✧༚

soooo I was just wondering

what are your opinions on the whole secret identity thing?

[there's more to that question, but she decides not to voice it, thinking adding anything else might color responses.]

Re: GROUP CHAT ROOM;

[theriflespiral]

I think I revealed myself to two people who then promptly got captured. I do not believe in bad luck, but I do believe in operational security.

[parillegal]

wait

like

you think the bad guys would do something with our secret identities?

[fibrillate]

Well, it matters a lot to me, but I have my own reasons for it
It makes a lot of sense for me to keep something this dangerous and high-stakes a secret from people outside of the team
Thankfully every Nova Knight I've revealed my identity to seems like they're not going to use it against me ;)

[parillegal]

[dangerous and high stakes... well, it is, but thinking of secret identities as just being fun was totally preferable-]

well of course! we're all a team, right?

I guess that's why I'm not sure if it matters between each of us, you know?

Re: GROUP CHAT ROOM;

[craft_ionista]

It totally makes sense to keep our identities a secret from the bad guys to protect our families!!!

I would never forgive myself if someone tried to get to me by hurting Waddles

Or Dipper

But I don't really see the point if we're not on a mission. We're all on the same team here, right?

Or are we worried about DOUBLE AGENTS???

[parillegal]

Right! of course! from the bad guys for sure.

but the rest of us are a team! it's not like one of us is gonna go rogue or something. that kind of stuff only happens in comic books.

i bet Nautis would know in an instant if someone was secretly an agent of the abyss!!!

[she thinks agent of the abyss sounds cool, though...]

[snizier]

Some of us like our privacy.

[WHY ARE YOU ASKING GLIMMER!!!!!]

[parillegal]

okaaaay but

we can still respect privacy and also get to know each other, right?

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

I totally get why its important but its a real bummer i cant invite any of you guys over to my place!
Sure we can hang out at the base but its not the same

[parillegal]

[Maya stops to imagine every single nova scout in the asim household. and then she imagines how each and every time they got together there, Kalim would suffer the compulsion to have a party. and then she imagines the fate of Jamil for every single one of those parties with all of these...

...vibrant and varying personalities.

it'd be funny at first, but...]

yeah!! what a shame : (

we'll just have to find ways to make hanging out at the base even more fun.