Game Update: August I 2377

[nashiramods]

Weather & Recap ⭐︎ By Daylight ⭐︎ By Starlight
🎶 Recommended Listening: Midsummer Dance Hall - GO!GO!7188 〈lyrics〉 ♪
august i 2377
EPISODE 7: Let's Go to the Beach! Swim into a Summer Wonderland!
August 1 - August 7

Constellations: Two out of seven Constellations have been captured.
⭐︎ The Nova Knights possess the Dancer
⭐︎ The Harbingers possess the Three Sisters
Weather: Chalra City's hot hot summer continues! While August isn't quite as hot as it was last month, it's a good deal more humid and stickier. Whether it's a swimming pool or a beach, Chalra City residents are flocking to the water to cool off and relax. Sunbathing in the park is a popular activity on cooler days, and local shops and restaurants court young shoppers by offering special services and sales suited to the student wallet. The highs for the month average around 90°F/32C° with lows around 78°F/25C°.

Recap: Last month was kind of a mixed bag, huh! Despite some victories, the results leave them ringing a little hollow. The Wonder Junction Two-Day Video Game Rental turned out to be a two-fold trap by the Harbingers: one part energy-harvesting plot, one part trap to capture the Nova Knights. Even the monster guarding the stolen energy at the Wonder Junction Two-Day Video Game Rental was meant to trap the Nova Knights, and though they defeated Ludoreticula, the stolen energy was never recovered.

This month has left several Nova Knights in dire states; Harley and Kalim fell into eclipse after their disastrous game trial, and Dirk and Reese were captured and sent to the Abyss when they were exploring the Dark Ocean.

BY DAYLIGHT
⭐︎ It's summer break in Chalra City! The first half of August is a time full of freedom and opportunity if you're a teenager. If you're an adult, it's business as usual but there are way more kids and teens roaming the city at all hours of the day. Public pools and water gun contests are still a popular way to pass the time, but this time of year, many students flock to the nearby beaches to take advantage of their time off. Schools usually assign homework over the break, but who wants to think about homework when there's a whole world of summer fun to explore?

⭐︎ There are shuttle buses every other hour to Littleneck Beach, one of the larger and more popular beaches on the east coast of Atlace. The boardwalk along the beach is one of its major attractions, lined with shops, small arcades, snack bars and more! The biggest shop on the boardwalk is the Seafoam Five and Chime, a variety store that sells all kinds of beach paraphernalia at a budget price. Towels and trowels, sand buckets and boogie boards, sports drinks and sunscreen — the Seafoam Five and Chime has it all!

There's plenty to do on the beach without spending money, too! The water is a comfortable temperature with some pretty decent wave action most days, and lots of beachgoers like to just spend a day under the sun collecting seashells and having picnics on the sand.

⭐︎ The beach is where Chalra City's competitive side shows itself, and there's no shortage of competitive activities to participate in! Beach volleyball and sandcastle building are the two biggest and most popular competitions, but there are also contests for beach scavenging, watermelon eating, fishing, swimming, elaborate swimwear pageants, digging really deep holes, and more! There's something for every competitive spirit at Littleneck Beach.

⭐️ The annual trend wars over the summer's most popular sports drink are being waged once again! Every summer, brands of different sports and soft drinks launch intense marketing campaigns to win the public's loyalty. Nothing's for sure yet, but the classic brand Potari Sweet is enjoying a revival after falling into years of obscurity with a nostalgic ad campaign. New look, same great taste!

The deluge of summer singles have been hitting record stores at light speed, too — what started out as a marketing war between multimedia conglomerates Shinebow Arts and Four Clover Works has become a tradition of releasing sure-to-be-hit singles across the whole music industry. Outdoor concerts have become a summer staple in recent years, often featuring several musical acts with shorter sets comprised of only their latest music. Recent releases include Pastel*Palettes's Hot, Hot! Sunny Love☆Summer! and Afterglow's COMIC PANIC!!!.

BY STARLIGHT
⭐︎ Hope's Prophecy: In the early morning hours of August 2, Hope dreams a hazy premonition of Harbinger activity at the beach. It's not much to go on, but the sound of the surf is the strongest element.

⭐︎ Hideout Status: The massive Aquarium features four beautiful, lonely goldfish. Even mostly empty, the room is still somehow much more soothing than before.

⭐︎ Maomao's Garden: Regrowing ancient seed samples and testing their medicinal properties takes time, and Maomao has been wholly engrossed in her project. She seems to be bringing supplies from her father's pharmacy, but she's investigating the equipment in the Lab to see if it's of any use.

⭐︎ Nautis Updates: Nautis is just as worried as everyone else about Nova Pastos and Nova Justicar being trapped in the Abyss, and she's shoring up enough power to transmit another signal beam to hopefully help them escape before it's too late. In the meantime, though, she doesn't want everyone falling into despair!

> I've been watching a lot of Earth films lately, and I know just what we need: a team-building exercise ᕙ( •̀ ᗜ •́ )ᕗ
> I propose a day at the beach!
> Earth has such beautiful oceans. It's something to be treasured and appreciated.
> I know you all have limited memories of your past lives, but surely you remember how important the Ocean was to Hassaleh.
> The fate of our planet was sealed the moment that the Abyss consumed our Ocean. And somehow, I feel it would be the same for Earth.
> So take a bus and get in touch with your alien heritage! Bond with your comrades! Get sand in your shorts together!
> And hey, maybe visiting the beach will trigger more memories of your past lives ^_^
> But even if it doesn't, you could still build a sandcastle and then destroy it and describe to me what that feels like!

⭐︎ Intel: The Harbingers have begun to target the Nova Knights directly, which means they've acknowledged our magical heroes a real threat. This threat cuts both ways, however; while human identities are entirely disposable to the Harbingers, the same can't be said for the reincarnated Nova Knights, and if the Harbingers were to discover any of their real identities, it could put their loved ones in danger. Nautis now knows for sure that the Harbingers are holding the Three Sisters in the engine room of their ship, so though it seems to be closely guarded, there's still hope of recovering it.

⭐︎ Trapped in the Abyss: On July 31st, Nova Pastos and Nova Justicar infiltrated the Dark Ocean to gather information about the stolen Constellation, but they were caught by the Harbinger Mistiluxia and sent to the Abyss, where they'll remain for the entire first week of August.

Mistiluxia is an even more formidable opponent than Shellustria, and she doesn't give them much opportunity to fight back before they 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 Pastos and Justicar 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 Pastos and Justicar to become separated while in the Abyss...Sounds like a bad time!

(In other words: other characters can thread with Dirk and Reese 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.)

Comments

Nova Neos And The Boardwalk Shrine

[theriflespiral]

Natalia is, despite everything, a busy girl this vacation. Leaving aside that she's still booked solid in Verdigris House, just because the school is on vacation doesn't mean the Lacrosse team is. It just changes the location of the training. Long runs down the beach to develop leg strength and balance, adjourning to the boardwalk.

A: Emergency Studies (Daylight)

"Huh? The homework? I finished it the first day," Natalia says. "Honestly I was expecting the teachers to show up and pile more halfway through this. You know how it is. But... Why?"

B: Seaside Shrine (Starlight)
Lately, Nova Neos has been seen frequenting a certain shrine at the boardwalk, dedicated to the local protector of the harbor, whose icon is carefully carved from concrete and steel, placed in it.

In particular, she's been seen caring for it, the hard way, with elbow grease and prayers, and standing atop it. Perhaps she likes to feel tall?

C: The Terrifying Stall-Killer of the Boardwalk (Daylight)

Natalia walks, and looks through the stalls with a jaundice eye. Her eyes hum and judge each stall in turn.

Who's with her? And who wants to see what, exactly, she will do?

D: Hope (Closed to Hope) (Daylight)

All right. Are you ready for your appointment later today?

d

[fibrillate]

As I'll ever be, I think?

Truth told, they aren't sure. It's the first time they've ever done anything like this, and Natalia has been incredible about getting them an in here in the first place, but they'd be lying if they said they weren't at least a little nervous about all this.

Is there any way I should, like, address your mom when I get there?
Is she big on authority and respect and stuff like that?
I can do that, I just need to put myself in that mindset again

Re: d

[theriflespiral]

You are the client; 'Miss Koutolika' is fine.

She pauses. If anything she's big on anti-authority. The tale of her and my father meeting... Ah, that's a story for another time, and while talking.

Am at station. Awaiting arrival.

Even if Hope isn't arriving via the many trains in town, Chalra Proper station, on the south side of the Enclave District and the north of the long tail of Historic Chalra (a name given to much of the places not connected directly to the port or, and not wrecked by the shipyards and chip factories of the docks and Computertown).

She's... Certainly dressed. Mother insisted on the stuff she was planning to save for a date, the vaguely scandalous outfit that she still feels like she's going to be arrested in, even though, again, nothing is particularly showing.

[fibrillate]

Got it
Shouldn't be too long now. Still got some nerves going on but it's fine

It's been too long since Hope has actually ridden the train, but they do like it a lot more than most methods of public transportation. Clean, reliable, generally quiet (which is really good for just sitting and blocking the world out with music), and still enough ceremony to it to make the destination feel really worth it. Like it's always a special occasion.

Eventually the train does roll into the station, and they come out in a slightly more presentable outfit than they usually wear—jeans without holes in them, a plaid button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up (and yes, they're very warm), their hair combed and their contacts out to reveal their natural brown eyes underneath—and they realize that maybe they'd been overdoing it. But it's probably fine. They stow their headphones around their neck and pause their CD player via the controls on the cord, and they look around for Natalia and almost pass right over her.

"Oh, hey!" They walk over quickly, greeting their friend with a weak little wave that doesn't get above their shoulder. "You look good, Nat. I like that outfit a lot."

[theriflespiral]

Regardless of her expression, she still takes a twirl in it. Nat. She turns the nickname over in her head, wonders if she'll keep it. "I will be honest, it feels a bit..."

She's not sure how to put it. Like she shouldn't be allowed? Like it's following a letter and not a spirit? "Like making it look like an accident."

... try again Nat.

[fibrillate]

"Well, I think I look like I did all of this extremely on purpose," they reply, instantly feeling more at ease now that they can poke some fun at themself. "The important thing is whether you like the way you look in it, right?"

Since the whole purpose of this meeting is to get some new clothes made and everything. "We're doing this for your beach date with Valorous. And for me to feel comfortable being on the beach at all. So we gotta get in the mindset of liking the way we're dressed without caring so much what other people think, right?"

[theriflespiral]

"Ah... you're... right that this is purposeful, but it's. Like I shouldn't be allowed to wear this?" There we go.

"-- Right. the. date." Oh god. She's thinking about Valorous, now. actually dating valorous. She pauses, gets her mind off that. She cannot think about it right now or she'd stand here for hours!?

"My block is this way."

[fibrillate]

"The date," they repeat quietly, trying not to stall Natalia's brain too much even as they smile about it. It's gonna be fun to watch go down. That's another reason they need to actually get something good; they're not gonna miss this for the world.

"Lead the way. I'm surprised I haven't done this sooner, honestly." There's... temptation here to make an offer to have Natalia visit their place in return, and they squash it down quickly. They'll have to spend their time paying attention to the surroundings so they can get back here without Natalia's help if they need something else made.

"I was thinking a two-piece for myself," they start musing in a way that feels like idle talk but is secretly a last pass at trying to convince themself that they're on the right track. "If I'm not going to jump in at the deep end then why am I showing up at all, you know?"

[theriflespiral]

She has to ignore it. If she does not she will lose focus and that is not allowed.

"How could you have known? I did not tell you the exact nature of my mother's business." Well. She might have mentioned the new bras in passing? She can't recall right now.

Into the old tenements, stuck between the industrial armpit to the east, Computertown to the north, the red-light to the northeast... It's got a lot of character all its own, regardless, sandwiched in as it is. It's not just foreigners here-- most people living somewhat desperate lives spend at least a few months in the Enclave District.

And yet, Natalia is... Welcomed. Occasional brief exchanges are made; aunties seem to love her. Despite everything, this place seems to naturally have a slower pace than the rest of Chalra City.

"Here we are." She hops up the steps in one leap, fumbles in her pockets for her keys. "We are on third floor."

BEACH BEACH BEACH BEACH--zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[string_instrument]

Dirk Strider's nigh-abusive relationship with sleep is a well-known quantity. But the Abyss took it to a new level, and after his almost entirely sleepless week there, the first thing he did upon escape was--

Well, okay, the first thing he did was receive Lil Cal back to his waiting arms, courtesy of Mortis herself--a tense moment, to be sure. How could he trust that this was the same silent, still, soft Lil Cal he's known and loved his entire life? The real Lil Cal, with no trace of autonomy save for this which is granted by his puppeteer? A Lil Cal who is completely his, body and... soul?

But that's for Dirk to worry about and everyone else not to.

So he goes home, he collapses into bed, and sleeps. For days. He barely gets up to drink water or take a piss. He's so exhausted on every level, including levels he didn't know he could be exhausted on. His body hurts, his muscles sore and weak, every sinch of him heavy like each bone weighs 10+ lbs more than before. His brain is so fogged that even with his eyes open, seeing is a challenge. The first few times he gets out of bed, he has the coordination of a drunken toddler. Actually, the drunken toddler might have one up on him. At least once, he wakes up on the floor--apparently having started to go someplace and having failed, but he can't remember when it happened, or why, or even whether he was coming or going.

At least no one has to hear from or worry about Nova Pastos or his antique brushed-cotton comrade for a bit.

But eventually he wakes--and unsurprisingly, he wakes restless.

He's not exactly refreshed, but he's alive, and alive for Dirk Strider means the machinery of his brain and body are in motion.

Of course, he spends like two hours in the shower first, and then there's his hair routine, and a morning workout, and another shower--

But eventually he's just awake. And restless. And looking to stay busy. He has enough going on in his head right now, he needs something outside of it.

SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS [To Maya, but also OTA?]

A message from Nautis tells him where to go, but he's not sure he's ready to perform as his full self. In fact, he's certain he's not. He's got a lot of work to do, and showing up as a Knight with work left un-done (or even started) doesn't sit right with him.

He does a little social media research instead. Looking for something--anything--to do out there, because if there is one thing he's not feeling right this second, it's idleness.

Especially idleness in close proximity to the ocean, where his thoughts can take him too far.

He skips over the sandcastle competition (he's never made one, and he's got his reputation as an artist to think about) and finds a volleyball tournament.

Hm.

It's a little more 'pedestrian' than his usual preference, but he's itching to move--if he just does a little more research...

When he arrives at the sign-up, it's not as Nova Pastos, but as Dirk Strider, niche celebrity. And he arrives in typical Dirk style--which is to say, in a black and orange tanktop and shin-length urban ninja-style pants, Lil Cal slung over his shoulder.

Even as Dirk, though, he's on alert--and while his eye it out for threats, he's also keeping tabs on his fellow Knights.

Aaaaaaaand he goes back to bed

Wiping out so close to the end is...

Fine. Actually.

Dirk is fine with this. Of course, he can think of several things he could have done better, or read up on more thoroughly beforehand, but he didn't embarrass himself any more than he can tolerate. And while Dirk's capacity for 'fun' is a contested subject, he's at least satisfied with the experience.

Which is to say, the intensity of Dirk Strider's game was wildly disproportionate to the occasion, but met his base benchmark for acceptability in himself, and now he's sweaty and ciovered in sand, and Cal is covered in sand, and he can feel the workout in his legs, and he's only a little bothered by his choices and end performance, but he's learned from the experience and he is more than ready to disappear from the public eye and sleep for another 36 hours or 8 hours or 2 hours or whatever his brain and body will allow.

But.

(There's always a 'but,' isn't there?)

As he walks off the field of play, he glances at Nova Neos--whose addition to the contest elevated the whole experience, at least for Dirk. Game recognises game, and her game is top tier--whether it's combat, training, or volleyball, she brings it and serves it up like a legitimate champion.

Of course, her presence (and performance) really only amplified his own overly-intense and aggressively hypercompetence-fuelled tendencies, but that's a positive to him. Maybe less so to some of the teams he and Glimmer obliterated on the way, but maybe he even had fun because of it. Who's to say?

In any case, while the game was going, it didn't matter who she was. But now that it's over, he has something to say to her--something he can't put off, if only because his brain won't let him. So he peels off from Glimmer's company and falls into step behind Neos instead--shadowing her across the beach in a way that's kind of ominous, really. He's not making a point of it, but he's not... completely hiding it, either. He wants her to notice him. And once she does, he stonefaces her--but he also actually speaks.

"Sup."

Re: BEACH BEACH BEACH BEACH--zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[theriflespiral]

Oh, she catches the man shadowing her pretty immediately, but she waits.

She actually waits an unreasonable amount of time. Like, she goes out on the waves, and feels the sea breeze, and waits until enough people are around that there are witnesses if he tries something, but not so many people as to make filming them a national sport.

So, instead, the single raised eyebrow of Natalia Koutolika, Perfectly Normal Olympic Hopeful, is about the only response he receives. "Local celebrity, Dirk Strider. To what do I owe the pleasure? Did you perhaps join the AIS?"

[string_instrument]

After a certain point, Dirk realises he's being fucked with.

It's kind of impossible not to notice, and normally that might actually be interesting instead of frustrating, but right now he's beyond simply tired and actually running on the fumes of competitive adrenaline and barely-regenerated energy from an entire week in the Abyss, so he's not super loving this experience, to say the least.

Nonetheless, he sticks with it, and with her--he does not interrupt her meanderings, does not approach her until she acknowledges him. Doing anything else would simply be admitting defeat in a contest he hadn't consciously agreed to but which he absolutely refuses to degrade himself by losing.

Finally, though, she turns--and recognises him, and then immediately accuses him of being both a fed and a racist, right in broad daylight on a public beach.

He has an extremely normal reaction to this.

"Not to make a big deal out of my extremely moderate personal star power, but most people don't react to discovering they've been noticed by a 'local celebrity' by immediately accusing that celebrity of being racist."

[theriflespiral]

"Ah, but most local celebrities do not follow a girl for a long walk on the beach." As if to emphasize this, the water crashes and covers her near to the knees as the tie roars in. "So. What do you want? Hoping for the beach volleyball match you were denied?"

Really, all of this strikes Natalia as extremely suspicious, but extremely suspicious in the way that she had hoped only existed in one person.

The idea that there might be two of them is, perhaps, hitting her a bit hard.

[string_instrument]

At the first point, Dirk actually emotes--but it's a very specific emotive action, where the corners of his mouth pull down dramatically into an almost cartoonishly-large frown.

"Don't bring sex or gender into this. I am on the public record as being emphatically disinterested in anything remotely resembling any kind of hetero bullshit. Least of all some predatory hetero bullshit."

He could go on--and if he wasn't here for an extremely non-public reason, he could make a whole scene of it. Alternatively, he could just turn around and leave. Yes, he is in fact that fucking bothered by the merest suggestive breath in that direction.

But he does neither, because he is tired, and here for a purpose, and that purpose does not actually involve elaborating on his sexual or romantic proclivities to another Nova Knight.

"What I want is to talk to you someplace at least vaguely private, or both of us around to sound completely deranged in about two minutes, and I can't guarantee someone won't notice." The exaggerated frown is gone now, but even though he's gone back to stonefaced stoicism, there's an uncommon antsiness to his energy. He shifts his weight, rolling his shoulders to adjust Cal--who just grins up at him. Eternally supportive.

"Is that cool with you, or do I need to get uncomfortably specific?"

[theriflespiral]

"... I don't know anything about this, but I do happen to know such a place, yes. This way."

~ ~ ~

It's a short walk up the sands and around the back of the boardwalk to reach... Completely unsurprisingly, given Dirk's suspicions, a shrine. A full-ass shrine to some tutelary spirit of the beach. Dirk sure doesn't know, and Natalia isn't about to tell him, but since people don't usually come here outside of the yearly shrine visit or the Beach Festival, which is ending, and thus the place is deserted.

"We are unlikely to be overheard, here. What is this 'completely deranged' thing you have heard?"

[string_instrument]

"Not so much 'heard,'" he informs her, disengaging briefly from that intense focus he has to look at the nearby shrine--just a short glance, with a nonplussed air to it.

Then, without any warning--without really any preamble at all--he launches in a short, fast-paced, and vocabulary dense rap that does very little to clarify what the fuck he's talking about.

Unless she's listening closely, and catches onto the presence of mid-sentence rhymes like 'galactic' and 'praxis'--

Or just waits a minute and bears witness to the end goal of this bizarre response: the split-second, fanfare-free, transitionless switch from Dirk Strider (rapper, puppeteer, martial artist, tattooist, and celebrity heir) to Nova Pastos (?????).

Lil Cal, of course, also makes the appropriate change.

"Sup," says Nova Pastos.

[theriflespiral]

what.

Well, no, that made a lot more sense than there being two of Nova Pastos. As much as she had hoped it wasn't true, regardless, the fact that he's just... Coming up and, in fact, declaring he is Nova Pastos is surprising.

"Uh. Hello. I'm not sure why you've decided to confide in me, but thank you for the confidence?" Her neutral expression belies the fact that she's looking around and reaching for her phone pocket.

Joykill Strider, they call him--

[string_instrument]

"Come off it," he snaps--a little sharper than he meant to, actually, which does shut him up for at least one second before he speaks again.

"I was stood right there during that embarrassing little identity denial dance you did with Chroma." He manages to fix his tone, at least: this comes out at the correct level of unimpressed, unaffected deadpan. "You playing dumb now is just embarrassing--for both of us."

SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS finally gomen

[parillegal]

Maya's here on Nautis's assignment, too— and of course, to bring Pearly to the beach. and while Pearly absolutely wants to see Maya participate, Morgan's made it quite clear that Pearl's not to participate in anything like that herself.

so as always, Maya's out to be her hero, and thus she needs a partner in crime.

Dirk Strider's face is absolutely not familiar to Maya, but she sees cool shades and his serious attitude and his weird... doll thing, and the fact he's not paired up among the many already-paired contestants, which is actually the most vital of the aforementioned traits. without a moment's hesitation she pops up at his side, inquiring;

"Yo! You're participating, right?"

I'd feel bad for this non-response but I know she can take it

[string_instrument]

Maya might not recognise Dirk, but Dirk recognises her. It would be hard not to, considering that unlike most of the team, Nova Glimmer has made absolutely no attempt--comical, cringeworthy, or otherwise--to avoid being seen out of Super Nova. She regularly shows up at the actual hideout as her regular ass human self.

So he was already eyeing her (with the most exhausted dead-eyed stare he can possibly be hiding behind the sharp, sick-ass angles of his shades.) He just didn't expect her to straight up materialise next to him like that. Or to... uh, solicit his attention.

So he stands there, stock-still and 6'1" and (as she so smartly noticed) deadly serious, staring downard in her direction for two or three seconds longer than a normal human interaction would normally entail before he loads the actual speech function and engages his mouth. His puppet also stares at her.

"Yep."

she's perhaps the best suited for it.

[parillegal]

"Great! So, where's your partner?"

In the usual Glimmer fashion, Maya's undeterred by Dirk's lack of response. She's... well, 'deterred' isn't exactly it, but her eyes do keep flashing over to Cal. Not only does he seem familiar, it's... she could swear that puppet looked at her first. Maybe it's just... the angle...?

[string_instrument]

Dirk follows her gaze to Cal, and then looks back at her. Then he looks back at Cal.

He... can't tell if she's doing that because she recognises him or if she's doing it because she doesn't. He has no idea how to tell, short of outright asking. And he's not sure he knows how to do that in a way that won't result in a just-as-ambiguous answer.

"Turns out he doesn't qualify. Assholes wouldn't even give me an explanation. Just kept demanding I be realistic. I'm not the one turning away teams for no existing reason or rule--and I know there's no rule disqualifying him from play, because I studied the entire sixty-seven page rulebook before I got here. The only possible excuse would be uniform violation, and no one else is being held to competitive Fédération Internationale de Volleyball standards for those." As he talks--all words he would have said regardless of who he's talking to--he's watching her for some kind of clue. But whether he gets one or not, he ends the same way. With a question.

"Why, you looking to be my plan B?"

....'cause he kinda needs one.

[parillegal]

Well, that was actually a lot more than Maya expected him to say. She sits there attentively, but her eyes are wide in a bit of surprise. She wants to comment on how... avid a reader he must be, but when he asks his question, she remembers that's exactly why she came here.

Can't get off track!

"That's right! I'm Maya Fey, and I'm here to play!"

Clapping her hands together as if in prayer, she bows her head to him.

"Looking forward to a good match with you... both?"

She turns her head again to Cal and... yeah, you know what, she's just gonna go with it. This thing is obviously this guy's special pal.

[string_instrument]

Wow.

Don't wait for him to actually say yes or anything, damn.

Not that he was going to say no--as much as Dirk hates needing to rely on others--especially in a context and capacity that leaves that other person's abilities a complete unknown--at the very least he can trust that Maya Fey is a capable enough Knight. And what she may lack in volleyball expertise, he can trust she'll make up for with enthusiasm.

Still. It takes real willpower not to point out all the assumptions that just got made there. Willpower, and a wall of mental fatigue that makes arguing--for once--more effort than not.

So, just this once, Maya Fey is spared the ordeal of Dirk going through a detailed list of all the ways she just railroaded him before declaring that he wasn't saying no, and that he's actually perfectly fine with being on a team with her.

He saves his bitchy energy for the organisers of the event instead.

"Depends on whether they eject him for conferring me unfair advantage," he corrects, not graciously, before moving onto a more pressing matter: the one where he tries to coax her into telling him whether or not she knows who the fuck he is.

"Do you need introductions, or do I go without saying?"

[parillegal]

See? It works out for everyone.

Including and especially Dirk, perhaps? Since Maya makes it much clearer when she realizes—

"Oh! I'm Maya Fey," she says, holding out her hand to shake his— and then giving a little 'oh!' again as she crosses her other arm to hold out to the damn puppet.

"And you guys are...?"