July II Event Log

[nashiramods]

Who: Everyone! (That's right, even you)
What: The Nova Knights close in on the newest energy harvesting scandal, but this time, the Harbingers are expecting them.
When: July 25 - July 31
Where: Chalra City and the Dark Ocean

Event Results
🎶 Recommended Listening: Wii Sports (Remix) - VGR ♪
july ii event log
EPISODE 6: Game Over or New Game+? Dive into the Dark Ocean!
July 25 - July 31
TIMELINE
7/25-7/31 Go Fish
7/25-7/29 Lab Cleanup
7/26 Investigate: The Wonder Junction Two-Day Video Game Rental
7/27-7/29 Mystery Plot
7/30 Showdown: Ludoreticula
7/31 Recon: The Dark Ocean

The second half of July is a little more challenging for our heroes. Losing a Constellation to the Harbingers was among one of their worst case scenarios, and morale has taken a serious blow. They still know so little about the Harbingers' magic that it's hard to strategize a recovery.

Fishing also seems to be challenging, but in all fairness, those carnival games are hard! A few Nova Knights managed to capture some enchanting looking goldfish, though, and now that the Aquarium finally has some inhabitants, even if a little sparse, it feels like the place is finally coming to life for the first time in countless millennia.

Midsummer on the Promenade is still going on over at the Smoketree Promenade, too! There have been local bands playing live music on small outdoor stage in the evenings, and even if carnival fishing isn't your game, there are plenty of others, as well as lots of tasty street food and sweets. A lot of locals are selling handmade goods along the street — what better souvenir for the summer? The chick seller is among them, delivering impassioned sales pitches for his hatchlings.

Cleaning up the Lab takes up most of the week, and it's looking a lot better in here! Sure, some of the arcane and mysterious equipment was damaged and even Nautis isn't sure how repairable it is, but hey! They've dusted everything pretty neatly and it looks like it's in respectable condition. Unlike the other rooms they've unlocked, though, this one isn't any good for just...hanging out. Maomao, however, seems to have her own plans for the Lab, even if she is visibly unhappy about the damage to the equipment. She's moved the hydroponic garden to the Lab for the meantime — both in the hopes of discouraging anyone touching her precious garden and for proximity to devices she apparently intends to learn how to use. Just imagine what kind of magical remedies Maomao might be able to cook up...she'll probably need test subjects volunteers once she's finished testing things on herself.

Business is still booming at the Wonder Junction Two-Day Video Game Rental, and on the 26th, Hope and Mabel make their way through the crowds to do a little Nova Knight snooping to considerable success. They rent the recently released games Gentleman Thief Escape: The Seven of Hearts and Shinebow All-Stars Grand Prix for research purposes.

Between the 27th and 29th, some Nova Knights take a crack at the video games, only to be sucked into the game worlds, trapped there until they can beat the game! Cynthia and Natalia successfully conquer the final stage of Grand Prix and escape on a note of triumph, but Harley and Kalim struggle to get through Gentleman Thief Escape and need a brute-force magical rescue from Nautis. The two of them aren't doing so good these days. To add insult to injury, the Nova Knights might be looking at some late fees, too...

On the 30th, Maya, Mutsumi and Jamil head to the Wonder Junction Two-Day Video Game Rental to face off against Ludoreticula and cleanse the shop of Abyssal influence. But this, too, is a trap — once inside the pocket dimension, Ludoreticula seals them inside and the harvested energy is whisked back via magic subspace to wherever the Harbingers are storing it. Their plan to have Ludoreticula capture and deliver them fails, however, when the three of them absolutely kick some video game monster butt.

On the 31st, Nautis warps Dirk and Reese to what she's pretty sure is the Harbingers' hideout...and she was right! It turns out that the Harbingers' base of operations is a starship floating in Earth's orbit, and they've been keeping their captive Constellation in the ship's engine room. While this information makes it back to Nautis, the Nova Knights themselves do not — it's into the Abyss for them!

Comments

[fibrillate]

Ohhh, man. Okay. Well.

"How intense do you want to get?" they say, almost laughing but definitely not getting there, not all the way. They rest their hand on the table and look up at Maya through glasses that have probably needed to be cleaned for a little while. "The first time I met Pastos, he was yelling at me for being a coward," and they don't say about what, "And I only figured out it was him when we were on that mission together. And I don't know how to apologize for any of that."

Of course they should be the one to apologize. Right? That's how it works. Their inaction, or screwed-up actual action, caused bigger problems than hurt feelings. Ones that the Knights are still trying to resolve to this day. Good job breaking it, hero. "I mean, just for starters. Heh."

[parillegal]

"Ooookay, well, what exactly are you trying to apologize for?" Maya asks.

"It kind of sounds like he was the one being a jerk. I mean— what is he, your mom?"

In her mind, they're supposed to be encouraging each other, not scolding each other. So what exactly could have happened...?

[fibrillate]

Hope looks away, just with their eyes. And they sit in that uncomfortable silence for a second or two, and their shoulders slump. They can't lie to Maya. It's Maya.

"I told him," and they still hear their voice shouting at him in the Retsufami vestibule, "That if he thought I was being too much of a pussy to handle everything properly then maybe he should get dragged to the Abyss and see how he feels afterward."

They chase those words quickly, knowing it makes them sound absolutely horrible. "I was really stressed out, I didn't know what I was doing for the capture mission and nobody was telling me, I found out at the last second that I was doing it with Mortis, and he said the only reason I didn't run away from the last thing we did together is because nothing went wrong."

[parillegal]

Oof. Maya can't help but wince. It's not a good thing to say, sure, but... Maya might be the only one with an inkling of where Hope's coming from so far. Her brows crease in concern.

Still, there's more to that testimony story than Maya's sure she knows.

"Wait, did something happen between you and Mortis, too?"

[fibrillate]

"Like, no, but."

They really don't know how to put it. God knows they don't know what's up with Nova Mortis now, but before this... before this, they were really out on a limb. There's exhaustion running through their entire body and it's only now that they're out of the costume that they really feel like they're noticing it. It's harder to choose their words, and everything just feels heavy.

"It feels like every time I've talked with her, I've said or done something to make her mad at me. And sometimes I don't know what it is." They look at the table and pick at the skin of their palm with their fingers, trying poorly to hide the motion from the only person on this team they haven't fought with yet. "And sometimes I do."

[parillegal]

"I... don't know if that's a you problem," Maya starts, then scrunches her nose when she realizes that kind of incriminates Mortis, too.

"No, what I mean is... okay," she recalibrates, regroups. Mia was always better at this kind of thing— so in that case, as usual, Maya tries to channel her sister's advice from when Maya was still just a kid struggling with Morgan's expectations and the accompanying isolation.

"Sometimes, people are just kind of the way they are, no matter what you do about it, you know? It's just that they're fighting their own battles, living their own lives. And it's not really always your fault. I mean, even I've upset Mortis before."

[fibrillate]

They stop picking at their skin while Maya talks, and they don't start doing it again.

"I think I know that... or I think I can understand it. But." They feel like there's a better way to say what they want to say. Like they could just say it better. But if they could say things better then they wouldn't be in this situation to begin with and that's the maddening part. That's one of the maddening parts.

"But it's so hard not to take all of it so personally, you know?" And maybe that better way of saying it wouldn't make them sound so pathetic. Without their own namesake. "If it's Mortis just sitting there not saying anything, or if it's Pastos telling me I'd be too much of a fuckup to kill myself. That one probably... is something I should take personally," they say, trying to play it off like a joke, trying to pretend they don't keep dumping this on everybody they talk about it with. Trying to pretend that the principle behind why Pastos said that had awful truth behind it.

[parillegal]

"Um— yeah? Yeah, actually!" Maya insists, drawing in a breath and pouting. Flickers of Shellustria's attack on her flicker through her memory at the mention, and the idea Hope is struggling with anything like that...

"I don't care if you don't get along, that's a mean thing for him to say!"

[fibrillate]

"Yeah," they agree, grateful at least that to get validation that this was a really messed up thing for a person to say to another person. "I threw his eggs on the ground because of it and I told him I'd see him in hell. And then, well. Turns out we're on the same team!"

Very funny, universe. Fantastic little trick to play. "It's just... this is the kind of stuff I've been getting up to on the team lately. And I'm just so tired of being them. I want to be me." They actually feel proud for a second, their shoulders straightening. "I feel like I finally have a handle on who I am, and everything that they do just feels confusing and... and aimless."

[parillegal]

Yeah, that makes it a little clearer. There's really no spinning that as not at least awkward. Maya taps her finger to her cheek as she contemplates, turning it all around in her mind.

"It kind of sounds like you think those things are incompatible," Maya notices.

"Being on a team, and being yourself. I know teamwork is about compromise, but that doesn't mean you have to be the only one compromising..."

[fibrillate]

Maya has such a way to kind of... cut right to the heart of things. The problem is that she's stabbing towards a different problem, or at least that's what Hope thinks even as they tuck the idea in the back of their head for later. Like they need anything else in there right now.

"It's just... hard, like. I didn't grow up with any real family. I didn't go to real school and I didn't have a ton of friends. I've been doing this alone for a really long time." They smile a little, but it doesn't reach their eyes. It barely reaches their cheeks. "I'm really lucky my birth mom still talks to me so much, but I can't tell her about this stuff. And if I try to talk through this stuff with... basically anyone who's not you, I just feel like I can't say or do anything right." They kind of just went on talking, they realize, and they sigh at themself. "I think it's more than just getting other people to compromise."

[parillegal]

Maya listens attentively, though even as Hope gives context, she feels like there's something missing from her own understanding of Hope's situation.

"You... think you're the problem." she asks, to confirm what Hope's getting at. She almost hopes it isn't, because— how is she supposed to convince Hope they're not, when it seems things keep going wrong for them?

[fibrillate]

"It's the best answer I can think of," they reply, but they neither sound nor look very happy about it. "I'm the only common thread, whether I'm in costume or not. And it's... like, I've known for a long time that it's not easy for me to understand people."

Their mother had told them that she'd struggled with it too when she was their age, though when she'd said it Hope had had to stifle a laugh. They love their mom, but there's no way she knows what this feels like.

"And I don't know if it's just that, like, you and Nat are easier for me to understand than everyone else or if Mortis and Pastos are just kind of like that for everybody, but a lot of the paths I can think of that lead to the problem all end at my feet." Stupid thing to say, they think with their eyes darting away. "I don't know. I don't want to be right."

[parillegal]

Maya frowns at her hands, shifting her mouth side to side as she ponders. Who would have the right words to say in this situation? Whose knowledge could she call on that's better than her own?

She's certain she has the answer.

"Well," she ventures, and then clarifies; "I don't think you're right. But..."

She reaches out, wiggling her fingers for Hope's, content whether Hope takes hold of them or not.

"You're still the only part of the equation you can control. So... it's still about what you do, what choices you make."

"My sister used to say something like... situations change, depending on how you look at them. People, too.

Maybe it's not what you're doing or who you are that needs to shift, but how you're seeing it. Does the situation look different from another angle?"

[fibrillate]

It's too easy to take Maya's hands. It's nice to know that they aren't somehow anathematic to the entire concept of friendship. And they listen, and they glance nervously between them, down to the table. It feels better like this. Like they're not as alone. Their heart beats louder in their ears for a second as they just... listen.

And then, truly, they don't really know what to do or say next. They deflate—more or less visibly—and their hands hang a little looser in Maya's. "I don't know where else I could start looking at it from. Like... what does that even mean here?" They look up at their friend like a life preserver on the side of a ship that they'd thrown themself off.

"Is it... is it like I haven't really had the chance to get to know who they are?" It's the best guess they can venture. "So it's not me, it's the circumstances?"

[parillegal]

"I mean, can you tell me anything about Mortis or Pastos?"

Maya challenges. It's a gentle one, but she presses nevertheless, finally feeling like she's seeing the right answer, just by working more with Hope.

"Like, where they live, who they live with, how they grew up? Who they go home to?"

[fibrillate]

Hope doesn't really say anything for a moment while they think, but they don't know why they're bothering. They already know the answer. Once they've at least put forth the requisite appearance of effort, they sigh sharply through their nose and let their shoulders fall.

"No. I don't think I could tell you a single thing about either of them as people. Just... things that we've said to each other that didn't have anything to do with who they are." They appreciate Maya for her honesty even if it feels very, very much like they've been caught doing something wrong.

[parillegal]

"Then that means you don't have the evidence to say it's your fault," Maya asserts, along with—

"You just don't have all the answers yet. So it's not hopeless!"

But her face isn't cross or stern despite it all. She's becoming more confident this is the right angle.

"It's just like in the Steel Samurai Dark Shadows arc. Maybe it's not that they're just fighting you... but that they're fighting their own shadows, too."

[fibrillate]

God. They do love Maya. The first thing they think to do is to drop their head down and laugh, just at how surprising it is that this show that Maya had gotten them so deep into is still so relevant right now.

"Maybe it is. I don't know what they're going through. I never—" they sober up a little as the realization sinks in further. "I never asked. About anything. I just... kept being in my own head at them and didn't ever think if that was helping. Or if they needed more from me. It's like... how the power of friendship saved the day but they had to actually act like friends to each other first!"

Oh, boy. They sit up straighter as understanding, dangling in front of them like a baited fishhook this whole time, finally dawns on them. "Oh, I have been stupid."

[parillegal]

"Eeeveryone's a little stupid sometimes," Maya admits, far from perfect herself.

"but... everyone needs the power of friendship sometimes, too, you know?"

This, Maya's sure, is that moment for Hope, too. And so she's clear;

"So I'm glad you decided to talk it out with me. This is what friends are for, right?"

She wonders to herself, in the moment, how many times she's actually gotten to be this friend for anyone, to anyone who's ever gladly admitted they're friends? Kalim is eager to say so, but he's never eager to talk about his problems. Maomao and Jamil would rather have problems than admit they're friends. And she doesn't have very many other examples to pull from.

But Hope... Hope is here, relying on her. Maya knows they're friends, and Hope doesn't deny it. As unsure she'd felt that she could help them before, this feeling in the moment makes her feel more secure; friends are at the very least meant to try.

[fibrillate]

And Maya is trying really hard. And succeeding, really. They're grateful for her in ways that are hard to find words for. Growing up the way they did, and then going through most of their adult life the way they do, it's hard to form close connections. Friends. Even acquaintances. To know that Maya is just... like this, despite all of Hope's rough edges, despite all their problems and their constant adjustments to being a properly functioning person, all that means a lot.

"I'm really glad I've got you to show me the power of friendship," they say, not to belabor the point. "It's hard, sometimes. To remember that." They don't want to dump more of their stuff on Maya, but there's a tickling at the back of their throat reminding them that if they don't explain themself, they won't be doing it right. What is "it"? A mystery.

They succumb. "I can count the friends I have on one hand, and the friends I trust with stuff like this on three fingers. Before I met you and Natalia, my best friend was my mom."

[parillegal]

There's a moment of quiet as Maya smiles— to herself, really, staring down at their hands.

She isn't stupid. She knows that among her childhood 'friends', the only one who'd ever openly admit to that friendship at all is Kalim. And even then, she still feels like more of a big sister he and Jamil and Maomao than anything else. She can be friendly with coworkers easily. She can even call people her friends easily.

How often, though, can she really be sure they feel the same? She'd spent so long isolated, only seeing those three and Pearl, that Maya isn't sure how that works, most of the time. For the first time, she thinks, she can really actually tell there's a mutual connection between them, instead of Maya just chasing the phantom of something she wasn't supposed to have anyway.

"Well, my best friend before was my big sis," she informs, wiggling her fingers against Hope's.

I get it. I'm probably not the person you think I am, she wants to say, but can't manage it. That's not the fun, happy Maya everyone needs. Not the one Hope needs. Instead;

"So, that just goes to show you. Anybody can figure this out, if they work together."

[fibrillate]

"Yeah." They're glad that Maya is the kind of person who can understand, even if it's a bit of a surprise. She's so kind and eager and happy—in so many ways the antithesis of Hope, or more charitably what they'd thought they would grow up into. But, and they tuck the thought away for now, maybe Maya's also used to being the only person with those qualities in her life. Maybe she's the outlier. Or maybe it doesn't matter as much right now.

"Thanks for helping me get my head on straight, Maya. This was really eating me up inside in, like, the absolute worst way." But the easy way they're talking should be enough of a hint that the storm inside them has quelled. "I guess the next step is finding somewhere to talk to them to apologize and see... just what comes from that." They're already not trying to assume that it'll go well. It probably won't. But if they don't do anything, they'll never know.

With utter sincerity and a smile that has now become only a little pathetic instead of the pallor that had been hanging over their face most of this time, they add, "Let me know if you ever need help like this. I'm here for you, Maya. I mean it."