Game Update: August II 2377

[nashiramods]

Weather & Recap ⭐︎ By Daylight ⭐︎ By Starlight
🎶 Recommended Listening: Answer - BUMP OF CHICKEN ♪
august ii 2377
EPISODE 8: When You Wish Upon a Spark...
August 16 - 31

NOTE: As a reminder, there will be no event or missions this month while the mod team takes a break. The game update contains prompts for all of August II, so play around to your heart's content!

Star Suite: The Training Room has been unlocked! Special training machines are now available to the Nova Knights, and they now have access to a new Star Suite power, Sparkle of Life. More details about this power are included in the Starlight section. The Rewards page has been updated with information about the next unlockable room, the Portal.
Constellations: 2/7 Constellations captured. The Nova Knights have the Dancer and 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: The Nova Knights got some badly needed wins in the first half of August! Not only did they rescue the Three Sisters from the Harbingers' clutches, but Dirk and Reese escaped from the Abyss more or less intact as well. They managed to foil most of the Harbingers' plans at Littleneck Beach, but the Harbingers got away with their stolen energy, and whatever they were harvesting from the folks consuming Potari Sweet. The Harbingers have since disappeared from Nautis's magical radar, however, suggesting that they're prioritizing their defenses over a proactive attack.

BY DAYLIGHT
⭐︎ Summer break is over — it's back to school for all students. Hope you did your summer homework, or at least copied it from someone else last minute!

⭐︎ As the summer swelters on, the Midnight Diner serves up a Chalra City summer favorite: finger food-sized fried chicken with a spicy yogurt dipping sauce known by locals as pieces and beach sauce. While beach sauce is typically associated with fried chicken, Chalra City residents will put it on just about anything, and everyone's got their own recipe. Master's beach sauce is known to pack a powerful chili kick.

⭐︎ Chalra City commemorates the end of the summer with a fireworks festival on the waterfront running from the 26th to the 28th. Chalra City's artisans take great pride in their craft, and they spend months preparing three consecutive nights of elaborate fireworks displays on the waterfront, each more fantastic than the last, leading up to a truly show-stopping finale on the evening of the 28th. The festival is only active at night, but much like the Smoketree Promenade's midsummer event, there are plenty of food stalls and street vendors to occupy people's time before the fireworks go off. Sparklers are a popular toy for children and adults alike!

In Chalra City, the fireworks festival is about more than just tasty food and spectacle — it's an important opportunity for community togetherness and gathering with friends and family. There's an enduring old custom in this part of Atlace of making wishes on fireworks — if you make a wish aloud as a firework goes off, it may come true, and conveniently, the noise of the fireworks drowns out all but shouting. Of course, most people will agree that it's just an old superstition, but sometimes you can hear a murmur of voices intermingled with the deafening pops and cracks, so perhaps some of the Chalra City folk are a little more superstitious than they'll readily admit. Everyone needs a little something to believe in.

And it wouldn't be a true Chalra City summer event without a little competition! On the evening of 27th, the festival holds a spicy food eating contest hosted by the celebrity comedian Wakaba. Contestants will be tasked with eating a variety of hot sauce-coated foods, with the spicy factor increasing with every round; in between rounds, while the contestants take a brief breather, Wakaba asks them a variety of personal questions, most of which inevitably end on a joke. While there is a small cash prize for winning the contest, the real incentive is bragging rights.

BY STARLIGHT
⭐︎ Hope's Prophecy: Thanks to their past life 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: The Aquarium has 20 new quartz shrimp in addition to the four goldfish! The massive tanks are still mostly empty, but it's a start.

The Training Room is now accessible! If you were expecting a classic gym experience, think again — rather than conventional workout equipment, the Training Room holds what appear to be a series of arcade machines with a decidedly Hassalean aesthetic. Apparently, this is how the Nova Knights in their past lives honed their skills! There are currently three working arcade-style workout machines in the Star Plus training series: Star Plus Blazer, a target practice game to help hone weapon proficiency; Star Plus Light Catcher, a Whac-a-Mole style game where you bop cute little star-shaped monsters; and Star Plus Beats, a drumming game with two large drums that helps with magic power circulation.

There are more workout machines, but the rest are all out of order...who knows, maybe you'll find a way to repair them someday!

⭐︎ Star Suite: Another Silver-level Star Suite power has been unlocked! The Nova Knights can now use Soul Flash, a Silver-level finishing move that cleanses ordinary people who have been temporarily possessed or changed by the Abyss. The overzealous beachgoers who had drunk Potari Sweet, for instance, would have been cured in an instant by Soul Flash!

Star Suite powers cannot be alone; they must be used in concert with at least one other Nova Knight, and the more Knights who participate, the stronger the attack. It can only be used once per supernova transformation. Characters in eclipse lose access to Star Suite powers for the duration of their eclipse.

⭐︎ Maomao's Garden: If Maomao has made any crucial progress, she hasn't shared it with anyone. Instead, she's just fully taken over the Lab and relocated the entire hydroponics garden there for better study. Trespassers will be hissed at.

⭐︎ Nautis Updates: Late in the evening of the 15th, Nautis informs everyone with unusual gravity that two more of their number have been claimed by the Abyss: Sunbeam and Crescent. As far as she can tell, they're not in one of the more surface-level pockets of the Abyss like the last few Nova Knights, but somewhere deep and as of yet unreachable like Nova Zenith. The Harbingers have gone to great lengths to hide themselves from Nautis, so it'll take time before she can find a way that deep into the Abyss. She urges everyone not to lose heart — their friends aren't dead, only captured, and the Nova Knights are coming for them.

> I know it's hard to think about having fun at a time like this, but...
> I just don't think it's good to dwell too long on what's already happened! You've got to take all that emotion and let it drive you forward! ( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ
> Besides, you know they wouldn't want you giving up at every setback! We'll prove their faith in us and rescue them for sure!
> So you have to make sure to take care of yourselves, OK?
> We've got some of the training machines up and running if you want to feel productive about your emotions ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧
> I hear this city's got some great fireworks...I know! You should all go take pictures for me! ^_^
> After all, it's not like I can go myself... Don't you want me to enjoy the fireworks? Don't I deserve to witness beauty too?
> I've been hard at work trying to put together what the Harbingers did to the Three Sisters and everything...
> The Constellation will recover, but yikes, those clowns really did a number on it. What they did was basically sacrilege! Don't they know these are precious artifacts of Hassaleh's Ocean Temple?!
> It really fries my circuits to see those good-for-nothing villainous losers abusing priceless pieces of our history (｡•̀ ⤙ •́ ｡ꐦ)
> The Constellations' magic was never meant to be used so directly...I don't think they have any idea what they were tampering with.
> Thank the stars they didn't! They could have done much worse than mess with some drinks. We can't let another Constellation fall into the Harbingers' hands again!
> But it seems like they're laying low for the time being... So I think it's time for everyone to take a load off! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

⭐︎ Intel: Although it's still unknown as to how the Harbingers' ship managed to disappear itself from Nautis's sensors, a conversation overheard by Dirk and Reese during their escape strongly suggests that while Mistiluxia clearly has dealings with the Abyss, the other Harbingers may not even know of its existence.

That doesn't mean all is quiet on the Nova Knight front, however. Even though there doesn't appear to be real any Harbinger activity on Earth these two weeks, there is an uptick in drinks monster sightings — more specifically, slushie monsters. While many of the monsters the Nova Knights face are directly summoned by the Harbingers, some, like the drinks monsters, are a byproduct of the Abyss's influence on Earth. So while there may not be a bigger Harbinger plot to foil, these monsters still need defeating! It is really hot out, though...would getting hit by just one frozen slushie attack be all that bad?

Comments

[theriflespiral]

There's a moment where she just sits with that information for a few long, increasingly hunched and gritted seconds. "You mean to tell me there's a whole secret society for this stuff!?"

She throws up her hands. "I'm going to find someone and kick them into a pit of chickens!"

[fibrillate]

Hope laughs even more brightly and gently wraps an arm around Natalia's shoulders, falling just short of giving her a noogie.

"It's called being part of a community, Nat," they say. "It's never something I was any good at, but yeah, there's probably tons of us all around the city. Probably tons of capital-K Knights, too. What, did you think you were the only girl who liked girls in Chalra?"

[theriflespiral]

"Well. Not. Exactly? I knew there were enough to start rumors on how to check, but..." I'm sorry Hope, she is pagliacci ivenka

[fibrillate]

They drop their arm back to their side and fix Natalia with a look that's difficult to describe. Disbelief and amusement and a bunch of different things all at once. "So you've just been getting the attention of all these cute girls and you just, like, didn't think they were gay? Just that they were being nice?"

[theriflespiral]

"More that I knew it was... Rare. So to have so many be gay was obviously incorrect, and that this must be a difference in cul... ture... "

She pauses. Her throat catches. She applies her forehead to the safety railing. "save me, i've been a total fool."

[fibrillate]

Hope just smiles. They can be kind about it. Even if it's the funniest thing they've heard all month.

"There, there. Everyone's allowed to be stupid when it comes to romance. And hey, if it makes you feel any better, you're still doing a lot better than I ever have." They lean forward on the railing next to Nat, looking out on the city again. "Any other prospective partners on the horizon since the last time I teased you about it?"

[theriflespiral]

"No. I'm... I'm a little worried. I think I've messed up everything. The world out here... The world we protect... You said they're the same world. Shouldn't I be... More connected to it, then?"

[fibrillate]

Ah. They keep their stare fixed on the city as Natalia's words hit them with only a little less force than a truck. They should've known that trying to escape from everything happening down there was never really going to happen.

"...I don't know," they offer meekly, their expression completely different, nestling into the gravity of the conversation. "I'm feeling less and less connected to it every day. To this world and the world of the Nova Knights. It's hard. Connection is... really hard. And I don't know if there's a lot of people who understand." It's not very cheerful, nor is it helpful, nor very much of an answer. "I sure don't. Never had anything like what you're looking for."

[theriflespiral]

"... I want to learn more about it. I want to learn more about the people we're helping. About the people I'm with." A slight pause. "Except maybe Pastos. Pastos shares a lot about himself already. Even if it means I'm dooming everyone, even if it should all sink into that terrible sea, I..."

"It's all worth knowing." Another beat. "Yes, even Pastos."

[fibrillate]

Pastos. They feel a pit in their gut if they think too much about him. They really do need to try to talk with him about everything that they've done to him, to apologize for being such a bitch and to see how he's handling coming out of the Abyss. Better than they are, probably.

They go too long without saying anything and realize it a little too late. "Uh," they start, "Yeah. Yeah, it is." And when what Nat had been saying actually catches up with their brain, they're glad they didn't reply the wrong way. "If it would help, I could share some stuff about myself? I mean, stuff you haven't already figured out already, I'm sure."

[theriflespiral]

"If... if you would..." She sighs, then picks herself up, nodding, face set. "No. Let me hear what you want to say."

[fibrillate]

Their expression finally lightens. Maybe it'll be a burden lifted from their shoulders. They can trust Natalia. They can trust Natalia a lot, as it turns out. Maybe they do have a friend.

"I'm rich," they start, and nearly laugh. "Like, my dad is one of the richest people out there. He screwed my mom and then took me away from her when I was a kid, and he just raised me with all of his other illegitimate kids in his stupid manor away from everyone else. And... he's been paying for everything I've ever done since I turned 18." This feels harder to admit. This is their biggest secret, and they're just... spilling it. In black and white, like so much ink. Unbelievable.

"But if I ever do anything that puts the family name in the papers, then he'll cut me off. And that's..." They breathe in shakily; they haven't ever spoken this out loud. "That's really scary. Because I don't know how to do anything. I'd lose everything."

[theriflespiral]

"And in order to do things, you need assurances that it won't get back to yon dictator's purse strings," Natalia finishes. "I'm familiar with the situation. It's why I had to tell Mortis and Mabel that I'd never been to a summer festival... Even if it did let me see many places from a hotel room."

[fibrillate]

They blink, and they let out a breath that they naturally hadn't realized they had been holding. "You understand," they say, feeling nowhere near as alone as they imagined they'd feel if they ever told this to anybody. "Oh my god, Nat, I didn't expect... ugh. Thank you," they settle on, trying not to gush too much about it. "I've been terrified to ever tell anyone even a little bit of this. It's why I was so happy I could be a Nova Knight at the beginning, you know?"

Another idealistic look out at the city. "I thought maybe I could make a difference. Do all the things I never had the power to do. Maybe finally do something to make it so people can't be as rich as my dad anymore. And we see how much all that's panned out."

[theriflespiral]

"Way I see it, we both can. The little moles are little annoying moles. Necessary to hammer, but hardly our biggest concern."

[fibrillate]

"But what part of all of this is those annoying little moles? Like, are we fighting the stuff that's wrong with the world, or are we fighting a bunch of drink-themed space monsters?" They feel... not as torn about this as they otherwise might, maybe because they do know the answer, but it still doesn't sit right with them.

"And who knows how more much time we're going to spend fighting back the Abyss? And how many more Nova Knights we have left before the Abyss wins?" they add, their chest feeling tight.

[theriflespiral]

"... Well. In the immediate, the drink themed space monsters are definitely something wrong with the world. Something we didn't see was wrong, but..."

She sighs. "I don't want to whack moles forever. Ideally I'd bring down your petty tyrant, then my own. Barring that, I don't know. Some kind of paradise where people don't look at me funny for liking girls would be nice."

[fibrillate]

"Well, your tyrant seems a little more important," they say quickly, doing that thing they do where they pretend that their own problems don't matter, obviously. It's not the point, they don't think; they sure as hell aren't equipped to talk about tyranny. "But like. Look at how many other girls we know who like girls. This is a good start, right?"

But the start isn't enough. Natalia deserves to live her dream of having an open crush on every girl. Hope knows that. "We'll get there. The first step is to just keep doing it... or at least I think it is? Neither of us is gonna get anywhere if we stay in the closet about who we like."

[theriflespiral]

"True enough. Is this an oblique way of mentioning you have a crush on someone?"

[fibrillate]

They laugh. "Oh man, that is what it sounded like, huh? No... I mean, like. I don't even know if I'm the type to get crushes?" It's a question they've never really bothered asking themself. They've been too, uh. Well, they've been too in their own head about everything else to dig into it much. "I can't think of the last time I've ever felt one. It's always just been, like, 'wow, she's pretty! Moving on!'."

[theriflespiral]

"Sounds like we could both use some time that isn't sitting in the Midnight Diner waiting for the end, huh."

[fibrillate]

"That's what this is, isn't it?" they ask gently, not really expecting an answer. "I just want some time to breathe. Take the world in, try to figure out what exactly I want from it... what I really want, you know? Maybe see if I even want to have a girlfriend or whatever in the first place. If I wanna introduce someone else to this mess," they add, indicating their all of them.

[theriflespiral]

"That's part of why I started coming up here, and going to the beach. Maybe I should go to that fireworks thing."

[fibrillate]

"I think you should. I've gone for the past few years and it's always a good time." They lazily point towards the sky with their thumb. "But this won't be an awful place to watch the fireworks from either. Private, intimate... not a bad date spot if you wanted."

[theriflespiral]

"That. Is true." Her ears are burning again. She can feel it.