Stars of the Nashira Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nashiramods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thenashira2025-11-03 12:09 am
nashiramods) wrote in thenashira2025-11-03 12:09 am
Entry tags:
Game Update: August I 2377
🎶 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.)
no subject
Well, almost marooned. He has Lil Cal, doesn't he? Isn't that enough?
And if not: why the fuck not?
Why is it he's so expected to keep extending himself--further and further away from who he is--that it's assumed? Why would he stretch these greater and greater distances, growing thinner and thinner with every inch? There's always this demand, this belief that he must reach and reach and reach out from his own secure shore of self, until he is himself--that island--no more.
Or, if not that, that he must not only accept but welcome that reach from others.
No. He doesn't, and he won't.
If it takes two to lie, then he has his second already.
Right now, though... the island needs to take his partner and curl up for a fucking nap.
"....right," he says, quietly, and the fatigue leaks in under his breath. A not-quite-growl, not-quite-groan. Half this, half that, full displeasure.
"Contrary to your apparent belief, I'm not a robot." He can't do this. Or he can. He always does. When it happens--the emergency, the event, the situation--he always does what needs to be done. There's always just enough of him to stop the flood, the fire, the leaks, the sparks.
If Shellustria came down on them, right now, he would draw his blade and unshoulder Cal and he would fight.
But
He isn't a robot. He has feelings, real ones. He has a body of bone and blood and meat and, yes, electricity... but only so much of it. He's tired. He's coming down off his adrenaline and endorphins, his head hurts, his muscles drained of strength. He's crankier and weaker and clumsier. But he doesn't say that. What he says, with squared shoulders and stubbornly perfect posture, is this:
"I need you to look us in the eye and tell us honestly if this is something you can handle on your own. Because if not--"
no subject
She says it with such certainty, for someone who's never been.
Well. At least, not in this life.
no subject
Every instinct he has screams in his brain at once. Every possible consequence, every potential failure, every catastrophe that could and would happen in his absence, by way of his absence, becomes a certainty he is predicting and--by even considering the alternative--allowing.
He presses his jaw tightly, purposefully closing his left hand into a fist before forcibly relaxing it. He does that two or three more times, just for good measure.
"I don't think I've slept so much in my goddamn life," he mutters--but he doesn't. Dispute it. He doesn't disagree. He is tired. Still. He feels it in the nerveless not-ache of his arm muscles as he clenches and releases that fist. He feels it in the hollowness of his chest, and the way it makes his body feel almost sore when he breathes deeply. But letting go--
It would be easier--he feels this in his bones--to go and die for it, than it is to simply... not go at all.
So he doesn't... actually move, or leave. But he isn't arguing, not actively. Just... just give him a moment.
no subject
That said, she does watch the waves.
Good night, sweet prince.
There's nothing else to say, though. So he simply... leaves. In an eyeblink, while her attention is elsewhere, Nova Pastos seemingly flits out of existence.
He didn't, obviously. This is what self-control is, for him. His own strings, his own hands. He travels the city that way--glimpse of shadow by flash of movement by flicker of light--until he hits the top of his apartment tower, where he barely makes it in through the window in time to collapse, exhausted, on the futon.
His heart is hammering so powerfully in his chest that he can feel it in his eyeballs.
But he doesn't feel it for long.
Barely five minutes home, and he's out like a light. Mercifully asleep.
Re: Good night, sweet prince.
"A strange ghost, that one," Natalia mutters, as she steps on to the bus.