Game Update: September I 2377

[nashiramods]

Weather & Recap ⭐︎ By Daylight ⭐︎ By Starlight
🎶 Recommended Listening: MOON PRIDE - Momoiro Clover Z ♪
september i 2377
EPISODE 9: Cosmetic Crashout! All That Glitters Must be Mine!
September 1 - September 15

Constellations: 2/7 Constellations captured. The Nova Knights have the Dancer and the Three Sisters.
Weather: Summer in Chalra City is finally winding down, but it's not over just yet! Although the taste of fall is in the air, the days are still long and the afternoons still get pretty warm. The die-hard beachgoers are getting the most out of the last few weeks of good beach weather, but the crowds at Littleneck Beach have thinned out significantly. The highs for the month average around 81°F/27C° with lows around 68°F/20C°.

Recap: August II was a little bit of a welcome lull in the action, although after Nova Sunbeam and Nova Crescent were claimed by the Abyss, the rest of the Nova Knights found it difficult to relax. Still, there were plenty of end-of-summer distractions with the spicy food eating contest and the Chalra City fireworks festival — or if you prefer your nights quiet and contemplative, the Midnight Diner was serving pieces and beach sauce just about every night.

BY DAYLIGHT
⭐︎ If there's one summer trend that's here to stay for the rest of the year, it's glitter-filled body products! After the popularity of PEARLESCENCE™ in the sunscreen market, a host of shimmery lotions and palettes populate the makeup section from drugstores to high-end boutiques. A new brand emerges amidst the hype: Shimmersea Cosmetics has products everywhere makeup is sold, and all of those products have glitter in them. Every single one. Shine on, baby.

Chalra City's perpetual trend machine turns Shimmersea products into a sensation almost overnight, and pretty soon the whole city is wearing something a little glittery. Even your painfully fashion-shy neighbor seems to be carrying around a little tube of roll-on glitter by the end of the first week of September. Maybe there's just something empowering about wearing glitter, because the Chalra City residents who take to Shimmersea Cosmetics's line seem to be acting...bolder.

⭐︎ The early stages of hype have begun for one of the premier fall culture events, the Chalra City Arts Council Couture Benefit! Jointly sponsored by Shinebow Arts and Four Clover Works, the Arts Council stages an elaborate fundraising experience to support its continued activities bringing art of all kinds to the people of Chalra City. The event is usually hosted by the Everwave Museum of Art, and while the proceedings of the dinner itself are swathed in secrecy, the red carpet portion for the gawking public are usually held in the museum's lobby, the ceiling of which is painted to look like the night sky with dozens of shimmering constellations. For this reason, it's known as the Celestial Gala for short. A few decades ago, celebrities started bringing their pets as their plus ones, dressing them in haute couture to match. This was met with explosive popularity and these days, it's pretty much a given that most attendees will have a lavishly costumed animal in their company, giving the event its other famous nickname: the Pet Gala. There are entire circles of Couture Benefit enthusiasts who focus solely on the changing winds of pet fashion.

The Celestial Gala won't happen until the end of September, but that doesn't stop the rumor mills for churning out wild speculation about the theme. The theme for each year's Gala is released only two weeks before the event itself, at which point the haute couture machine in Atlace goes into a frenzy brainstorming, designing, and executing insanely high-concept costumes for those famous gala appearances. Rumors of designers putting finishing touches on their clients' outfits just before they step out of their cars onto the red carpet are common, and last year one celebrity debuted with her tailor still sewing the train onto her dress — though she insisted it be considered a part of the costume's concept.

It remains a mystery what the Chalra City Arts Council Couture Benefit will look like this year, but you can be sure it'll be absolutely fabulous.

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: Nothing new, but as a refresher, as of August II the Training Room has been unlocked, which contains the Star Plus series, a few arcade-style cabinets the Nova Knights can use for training: 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.

⭐︎ Maomao's Garden: Maomao seems to be making some progress on her xenogardening experiments based on the intermittent cackling coming from behind the closed doors of the Lab. She's been showing her face around the hideout a little more, but trespassers into the Lab will still be hissed at and chased out.

⭐︎ Nautis Updates: On the evening of September 1, Nautis messages the Nova Knights with uncharacteristic reluctance to inform them that Nova Valorous has been captured by the enemy and now joins their other comrades in the Abyss. She's worried about morale, and she does a bad job of hiding it — but keep that chin up and let this fuel your determination!

> We'll just have to redouble our efforts from here on out. After all, there are still 9 of us! 10 if you count Niangniang! ( •̀ ^ •́ )✧
> I mean, I don't, but I think it's important to round up for morale.
> You've all been working so hard, so remember to take a little me time every now and then!
> I'd like to say the lull in the action continues...but then I'd be lying. And lying is wrong (ᴗ_ ᴗ。)
> Unfortunately, it looks like Prince Shellustria is up to his usual tricks. My sensors tell me there's some nasty Harbinger magic at work in Chalra City. I'd bet doubloons to bells that he's trying to steal the energy of the hardworking people again!
> For real, though, the Harbingers are soooo unoriginal.
> If I were trying to take dominion over Earth, my plots would be way more interesting. I wouldn't use the same idea twice. I've got SO many ideas.
> But I'm not, so don't worry about it ദ്ദി(ᵔᗜᵔ)
> Anyway, it's worth looking into anything new happening around the city. If nothing else, there's always something new around here!
> Congratulations on body glitter finally becoming an accessible beauty product, by the way. I'm overjoyed that the people of Earth are FINALLY developing a sense of taste ◝(ᵔᵕᵔ)◜
> Seriously, you're all absolute eons behind the times from a Hassalean perspective, but I'm really starting to feel at home here on Earth!
> I've managed to stabilize the Three Sisters, by the way. They're in need of some serious magical repairs, but we'll be able to restore the Constellation to its former strength.
> I'll need some help from you all when I'm ready, but hold tight for now. The Harbingers will pay for what they did to our precious Constellation!

⭐︎ Intel: Once again, Nautis is right — by the second week, the Nova Knights have caught onto the fact that the Harbingers are using the current cosmetic craze to camouflage their latest energy-gathering plot. Sorry if you were getting really into the Shimmersea Cosmetics lineup because that's the bad guys' brand actually :(

It seems to be doing more than just your classic energy harvest, though. Like the Potari Sweet plot back in August I, the body glitter also seems to influence the behavior of those who wear it: people are making pretty bold and daring choices. This isn't the extreme risk-taking behavior the Nova Knights witnessed at Littleneck Beach, though; rather, people wearing Shimmersea Cosmetics seem uncharacteristically unafraid to make a Statement.

With Nautis's help and some good old-fashioned investigation, the Nova Knights track the distribution of Shimmersea Cosmetics to a street kiosk in the red-light district. The shopkeeper herself turns out to be the boss monster Shimmeronica, guarding (of course) a pocket dimension where the harvested energy is being stored. When the Nova Knights face off against her, however, some of those newly bold and daring customers become possessed, and while they don't try to attack the Nova Knights, they're pretty effective human obstacles. Fortunately, the recently acquired Star Suite Power Soul Flash can free such people of the influence of the Abyss!

Some of the Nova Knights dedicate their efforts to cleansing the Abyssal influence from the victims while the rest throw hands with Shimmeronica in the pocket dimension she guards. In the end, not only are they victorious, they manage to reclaim the stolen energy as well, ensuring it doesn't go back to feed the Abyss!

Shimmeronica's pocket dimension begins to collapse in on itself after her defeat, but before it does, something unusual happens: it creates a brief link to the Dark Ocean through which the Nova Knights can temporarily see. It's similar to what Maya and Hope encountered when they escaped from the Abyss, and the Nova Knights witness a private conversation between two of the Harbingers:

Click here for a cutscene! (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

"No! Are you s— argh! No! No!"

Shellustria's agonized voice echoed in the small confines of the engine room as he watched the Nova Knights trash his precious energy-hoarding pocket dimension in realtime via datapad. A torrent of catastrophic readouts cascaded down one side of the screen, narrating to him its destruction with accuracy as crisp as video footage. The monster guardian had been more or less magically vaporized, and the meddlesome Earthlings had even cut loose the harvested energy before it could be transported back to the Dark Ocean. Damn it, he thought he was being careful this time. Mistiluxia had even managed to re-cloak the ship from the Nova Knights' prying sensors — or so she claimed, anyway. How did they keep discovering his every plot?

"Shimmeronica," Shellustria wailed, mashing his forehead against the wall-mounted datapad, "how could you fail me like this? I gave you everything you needed, didn't I? Why couldn't you pull through on this one simple task?"

"Oh, dear," said a voice by his ear, "it doesn't look like things are going very well, does it?"

Shellustria jumped as Mistiluxia materialized at his side, both feet fully clearing the floor, and when he landed he stumbled back into the wall. When did she get here, and how could he have not noticed? She stood there with her hands clasped in front of her, her smile patient but expectant.

"M-Mistiluxia! I can explain!"

"Oh, I don't think you need to explain anything," Mistiluxia said with her usual good cheer. "It's abundantly clear that whatever tenuous handle you had on this situation with the Nova Knights has completely slipped from your grasp. Not only do they keep discovering your plans before you can finish executing them, you didn't even bring anything back with you this time! Perhaps you'd like to supply the Dark Ocean with your own energy again?"

Shellustria's mouth snapped shut on any protest of insults to his professional competence, his face draining of color.

"No!" he said, a little too quickly, his voice a little too high. He backed a full step away from Mistiluxia, realizing with dismay that she was between him and the door. Cold sweat prickled along the back of his neck. He fought to quell the traitorous tremor in his voice. "No, that — that won't be necessary."

Mistiluxia tilted her head to the side with a concerned smile, touching a finger to her chin. "Are you sure? Perhaps I should call —"

"I said it won't be necessary," Shellustria said, the heartbeats in his ears almost drowning out the sound of his own voice. He was holding his fan in a white-knuckled grip. "I will be successful next time. I'll take care of this. This is the last time they get in my way."

"I can see you're quite motivated, Master Shellustria! In that case, I'll give you one last chance." Mistiluxia lightly clapped her hands together with a bright-eyed smile. "But if you can't finish the job, then I'll simply have to ask someone who can! You've lost a Constellation and four captured Nova Knights so far, and I'm afraid to say that your track record isn't looking very good. In fact, the most helpful contribution you've made so far is as a living power cell for the Dark Ocean! Perhaps you might consider a change of career?"

Mistiluxia tittered to herself as though she'd just made a pleasant joke. Shellustria flinched despite himself at the implied threat and tried to back away further, only to discover that she had backed him into a corner of the engine room without his realizing. She leaned in further, invading his personal space, and booped him on the nose.

"I'll be cheering for you from the sidelines, Master Shellustria!"

"I'll take care of it," Shellustria ground out as Mistiluxia turned and bounced on her heels towards the door. He clenched both hands into fists, not permitting them to shake, but his face was still a ghastly pale. "Just you watch, Mistiluxia — I'll prove my worth as one of the Lalixian Royal Family! I am totally worthy of ruling this miserable puddle!"

🌊🌊🌊

...And that's all the Nova Knights see before the pocket dimension collapses in on itself and boots them back out into the real world.

After the dust settles, Shimmersea Cosmetics products basically disappear from shelves overnight, as does the kiosk in the red-light district.

Comments

The Burning Heart of a Guilty Maiden

[theriflespiral]

The beat of her heart pounds as Neos marshals her magic, one last time, to try out Star Beats.

She has to be better than this. She promised she'd protect people, and now... Now there's all of this.

Cynthia. Valorous. Gone. And it's all her fault.

It's all her fault, not just in the general sense, but in the specific sense that she was the last one that had worked with Valorous closely. She should have known. She should have known, should have tried to protect her.

She burns with that thought, even as, yet again, she fails.

[kneecapshot]

Justicar came in to train on the Beats machine as well, but stops short as he sees Nova Neos on it, pounding away furiously. He can see the anger and fear in her strikes, all of it turned inward. He stands still for a moment, just watching her before the game makes a sad-bloop noise as she doesn’t pass the level.

“That one’s the trickiest for me,” he says, his voice extremely bland. “You can’t pack a week’s worth of training into an afternoon. You have to give yourself time.”

[theriflespiral]

"You can't deny I've clearly been slacking as it is." Still, she takes the time to catch her breath. "Whether it's just because I'm the one who's learning to know everyone, or because of my own prowess... I shouldn't have lost three people. Not so fast. Not so soon."

... But she wasn't nearly so broken up about Crescent and Sunbeam, was she?

[kneecapshot]

“You haven’t been slacking,” Justicar says flatly, his voice low. “I don’t think you know how to slack if you tried. You didn’t lose anyone. We lost them. You can’t take all the credit for yourself.”

[theriflespiral]

Her grip slightly tightens on the drumsticks. "... The last time I saw Valorous, we were in that game, together. I..."

[kneecapshot]

Justicar reaches out and very, very gently takes the drumsticks from her to set them down next to the game.

“I don’t think that’s what you need right now. Come here.” He moves to the center of the training room and beckons, then slides into a fighting stance. “Just because you were with Valorous doesn’t mean that whatever happened caused her to fall into the Abyss, you know that right?”

[theriflespiral]

"That's just it... I think that was the last time any of us saw her." But then, she squares up, regardless.

[kneecapshot]

"That's not your fault," Justicar says, throwing a mostly experimental punch right at her guard, easy to block. He knows she's skilled but not exactly how skilled, and she's trained to fight in an arena, not in a back alley where death is an immediate possibility at all times.

[theriflespiral]

That might have been the case six years ago, when she first won a world competition.

It might have even been the case three years ago, when she traveled to learn every martial art known to man and beast.

That might have even been the case five months ago, in April, when she hadn't fought against bauplans strange and horrible. Today, she has been hardened by months of fighting not just random monsters, but in subdual and other stipulations. While she starts in tae kwon do stance, her most familiar, she remains defensively responsible as she parries the jab, looking to his motions and probes with the same critical eye she gives everything else.

A testing jab makes sure of their spacing.

[kneecapshot]

Justicar steps out of the way of the punch and his eyes narrow thoughtfully. He tries a more complex move, leaning around her guard to strike at her shoulder. He doesn't want to insult her by going too easy, but he also doesn't want to punch a teenager right in the face by accident--Neos is going to have to show him that she's serious.

[theriflespiral]

Rather than block, she uses the bulk of her armor to roll into the blow, accepting the impact to throw a straight left from the back foot. It's, in many ways, picture perfect.

It's also indicative of her mood; sacrifice plays? This early?

[kneecapshot]

There's a soft huff as Justicar redirects the blow and hooks a foot around one of her ankles, attempting a throw. He wants to ask her if she usually takes hits she doesn't have to, but he doesn't want to break their focus even as he tries to sweep her onto the mat.

[theriflespiral]

She steps her one foot up and has to back away to avoid giving up the inside. Now Justicar has the initiative again.

And, yet again, she tests with a jab. Spacing, timing, care, Neos maintains a good grasp of fundamentals. But she's clearly pretty compromised in terms of emotion, and it's not hard to tell.

[kneecapshot]

Justicar blocks and presses harder--he's not trying to overwhelm her, but he is trying to get her to hit harder, to be less calculated, to work out some of the emotion that's clear in her movements.

"Come on," he says, his voice low and even as he closes in, his movements tightly controlled.

[theriflespiral]

And then, once again, everything is the attack; this time it's a high-low quick sequence, using the jab she's been trying on him as a spacing and probing tool as a setup for the low knee.

She swallows the battle cry.

[kneecapshot]

Justicar blocks expertly and pushes back, striking with flat palms instead of closed fists as he matches her blow for blow, watching her clench her teeth.

"Come on," he insists, batting a punch to the side and sliding under her guard to push her firmly in the shoulder, not even a hit, just rocking her back. It's a polite-as-possible sign that he's not taking her seriously as a danger, but only to annoy her enough to make her lose her grip on her careful control. She's grieving and angry and he thinks a battle cry or two would probably be good for her.

[theriflespiral]

There's something slightly more wild in the next sequence; something absolutely feral about her as the low growl she's been holding back on finally emerges.

Each and every person she's gotten particularly close to, with the exception of Hope, has had everything go wrong, has died in the line of duty as it is or came to hate her within two weeks.

They were all decent people. So kind.

The problem is obviously her!

[avemortis]

Neos seems to have a lot on her mind, and Mortis can't really blame her. They've lost a lot of friends to the Abyss lately, and so few ever make it back that it makes hope painful. Mortis watches Neos as she loses yet another round of Star Plus Beats, her lips pursing into a sympathetic frown.

"There's a co-op mode, you know," says Mortis, and without waiting for an invitation, she's already at Neos's side and picking up the big, brightly-colored drumsticks. Neos obviously needs some cheering up, and maybe she can help with Neos's magic somehow. "I bet we'd do better if we worked together!"

[theriflespiral]

Mortis. After the first, disastrous attempt to play music with her, she'd refrained from even attempting. She wasn't sure what it was that had made Mortis flee her at that point, but...

She'd struck it from her mind, until this moment. If taking her to the festival had been slightly out of character, this was in the face of everything she knew.

Still, she looked over at Mortis, with a slight amount of apprehension. "Are you sure? After I upset you last time with my playing..."

[avemortis]

Mortis gives her a slightly baffled look, blinking.

"After you upset me? ...Oh!" Her eyes light up with some realization, and she shakes her head, smiling. "You haven't upset me at all, Neos! So you don't have anything to be worried about."

She waves the drumsticks lightly. "Come on! It's better to train together anyway, right?"

[theriflespiral]

"Then... Very well. But I'll warn you, I'm no great shakes at magic." ... maybe, if she'd been better.

That's what's going through her mind. Even then, she looks at the arrayed songs. starts tapping along the edge of the drum to look for one she even sort of knows.

[avemortis]

"That's what the practice is for, silly!" Mortis wants to be upbeat to cheer Neos up, but...it's clear something is really bugging her. Her tone shifts to something gentler. "We all have our own strengths, Neos. You're so much calmer and stronger in a fight than I am, and you're always trying to protect everybody. But you can't expect everything to come naturally to you."

[theriflespiral]

She winces, her grip tightening again. Protecting people. How ironic. It feels like her love is a curse. Like reaching out to anyone is marking them for death, or worse.

She picks Magica Riot's "Kind to Be Cruel" simply because it's two-star and its title caught her eye, unaware it's about to deliver a knife-blow to her.

[avemortis]

"Oh, this one's really fun! You're going to love this one, Neos!"

As the music starts up, Mortis assumes an easy stance, very lightly rocking from foot to foot in time with the music. She lets herself relax into the rhythm, less like the musician she'd once appeared to be and more like a dancer. She's played this one before and she finds easy confidence in this sort of thing, so she starts lightly tapping her drum in time to the beats on the screen.

"Here, don't even worry about what's on the screen! Just try to stay in time with me."

[theriflespiral]

And yet, as she starts, as she tries to feel the dance,

The drum-beats hitting each into another-- the sparking silver aura, not particularly subtle.

But, then...

Fact or fiction or fantasy?
Who's the person you present to me?
Rushing headlong into calamity
I hope your aim is true...

She doesn't flinch, she doesn't. Move. Her grip tightens on the sticks and her control starts to fail.