Adventure Log - July 21, 2024

Elara's Resolve

Out in the front yard, Elara’s body appears while still unconscious with freshly fallen snow on her body. Spider walks outside to investigate after noticing the snow-covered body on the lawn. Elara jumps awake in fear but Spider assures them there’s no threat, “You’re at my house. Don’t ask how you got here because I’ve got no clue.” Elara still feels confused about everything and explains everything she remembers, “I… don’t remember. I was walking through the forest and I found like a fucking winter wasteland and now I’m… here. This isn’t the cottage with the NORMIE in it?”

Krystal - “NORMIE” is a term for non-magical people. It stands for "NORmal Magickless Individual Entity" and can be used for anyone who isn’t from Magical Earth OR anyone who doesn’t have powers. Most people in Fairview, sans The Gang and certain others, can be classified as NORMIES. It is yet unclear if Norn is a NORMIE just yet, but until more information comes out, we will consider her one.

Deeming her safe, Spider tilts her head questioningly, “come again?”

Elara takes a deep breath and shows Spider her phone, “I was given vague directions to find the cottage without the Normie named Norn by my si-- ergh.. Friend. Yeah.”

From the knapsack on Elara’s back, Mr. Bunnykins, her favorite rainbow tie-dyed rabbit plushie seems to stare at Spider with its plastic beady eyes. Due to their untrusting nature, they make them feel watched. Spider immediately senses danger but doesn’t react, though clearly not liking this feeling, “Then yeah you’re in the right place.”

“Ah so Luna lives here then?” Elara gets up and dusts herself off. Her hair seems to be frosted over a bit as if pelted by a sudden snowstorm, “Uhh I’m Elara. It’s nice to meet you uhhh… s-sorry, I don’t think I know your name?”

Spider’s ears perk up on recognizing the name. As the paranoic feeling gets to her, her feet shift stance, “Nice to finally meet you. I’m Spider.”

Elara closes her eyes on recognizing the name from the server as the feeling intensifies from Bunnykins. Luna walks out and greets Elara as everyone else returns inside, the feeling coming along for the ride, much to Spider’s displeasure. As a natural wallflower, Elara awkwardly stands at one of the walls in the living room while Luna returns to cuddling up with Hinata and Spider goes to her usual armchair. At this moment, while Spider’s wolfey senses enter overload, Viper returns in a new outfit.

As was discussed at last night’s sleepover with Norn, Viper used to have an alt-streak at one point, and as she enters, Luna and Hinata’s mouths drop from sheer awe and genuine surprise. Her outfit is nearly all black, white, and grey with makeup to match and an amazing wig. She looks like a punk rocker.

Spider then hears an oddly sassy though high-pitched voice in her mind, one that Luna, Hinata, and Viper don’t hear.

Elara covers her mouth and giggles slightly, knowing exactly what’s happening.

Spider’s ears panic as Bunnykins speaks, "Take a picture buster, it'll last longer!"

Spider glares at the room and growls under her breath, “who’s there?”

Luna perks up and responds, “No one’s here other than Luna, Hinata, Elara, Lochlan, Viper, you, and Mr. Bunnykins.”

Spider looks over at Luna strangely, “Who’s Mr. Bunnykins??”

A voice that Viper also hears much to her own confusion comes from the rainbow soft toy sitting in the middle of the living room. The feeling of being watched fades. Its voice is rather sweet and friendly though with a hint of sass, "hi. I’m not alive per se, but I do have a soul shard in me! I'm Mr. Bunnykins, nice to meetcha!"

Elara sighs and apologizes to Spider, “Sorry, I couldn’t resist Bunnykins doing its intro naturally. Sorry for scaring you.”

Bunnykins dips back into the knapsack and with a muffled voice, it says “sorrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy,” then shuts up.

Spider bares her fangs at Elara then mutters, “on today of all days..”

With an apologetic tone, Elara asks, "Today? Was today a bad day to come by?"

"No, it's just Spi's a werewolf and you know what tonight is." Luna explains, realizing that perhaps hitting Spider's wolfy senses was a poor idea.

It takes her a few moments for it to click. Tonight is a full moon. "Ah. Ah, uh. Hmmmm sorry.” Trying to find a way to change the subject away from her own mess-up, Elara turns to Viper and strikes conversation, “oh hey! Uh how’s it going Viper? It’s been a while since we last talked.”

Viper smiles slightly to Elara, "It's going good, Cole's been hard at work making new stuff" she shrugs, "Seems pretty typical of him"

Elara smiles though she has no idea who Cole is. On her right is a pink charm bracelet that glows brightly, Luna has a similar purple bracelet on her right wrist and Hinata a yellow bracelet on her left wrist. They all glow. "That's good. I don't think I know who that is honestly."

Luna nods and explains, "That's who I own this house with. He's just not home at the moment. Or for the past month."

Hinata nods and can't stop swooning at Viper. She's doing that one thing girls do where her chin is in her hands and she's blushing and sighing at Viper. You know what i mean.

Viper slowly looks over at Hinata with a raised eyebrow, "You want my polaroid? It'll last longer" she snickers

Spider sighs tucking her legs up into the chair. She's rapidly tapping a finger against the armrest in an attempt to get rid of the stress, "now you mention it I've not seen him for a while."

"Last I heard, he was yelling at someone over the phone and then he disappeared once more. Something about a Rosey or something I have no idea." Luna shrugs.

Hinata snaps out of her trance and shakes her head, "n-no no, it's okay. I just really love that outfit for you Viper." She's completely head over heels for Viper and also incredibly gay for her girlfriend.

Viper sighs and shakes her head, "I'm sure he's fine" she looks over at Hinata with a smug grin, "I can tell"

"Huh. Well, I did come here for a reason and not just to visit, though I really do wanna meet y'all. You all sound cool unlike the NORMIES in town, I can't even walk around without people staring at me sometimes. I don't get it. I actually feel comfortable with you guys." Elara smiles comfortably, as she slides down the wall and onto the floor, much to Spider’s concern.

Viper moves away from the door and stands near Luna and Hinata, "I can't say much about the getting stared at other than when i wear my gas mask outside by accident"

"Nah, I get that Elara. We can't even go into town sometimes without people staring at us for our cat and dog features. I assume it's for your ears as well?" Luna asks, trying to understand.

"Yeah, unfortunately." She moves her long hair out of the way to reveal two long pointed ears similar to that of elven ears, both of which are pierced heavily and have gauges in them. "A lot of Normies think I'm the devil even if I'm just getting something to eat. I've gotten kicked out of so many places. I've been growing out my hair a lot just to hide them so I can. Exist ya know?"

Spider nods adding, "at least they're a bit easier to hide."

Elara then takes a deep breath, "Right, the reason I came here. I've been on the run from Nova Heart. That's the corp that's basically taken over Capital City. They're looking to turn me into something, but I don't want any part of this experiment they're trying. I just. I'm scared I guess."

Luna goes silent hearing the phrases 'experiment' and 'nova heart'. Hinata goes to ask, "What is this experiment they're pulling now?" Everyone else in the room looks over with intrigue.

"I don't really know myself? Something about creating the ultimate weapon, but like considering they're already working on LUNA 3.0, I can only imagine it's something along those lines. Turns out they could never recreate the success they had with alphaprototype6969, aka you Luna." Elara sighs and looks depressed as hell, scared too.

Luna turns her head away from Elara on hearing that specific phrase. With a gravelly voice, Luna mutters, "I haven't heard anyone call me that in a really really really long time. How did you... where did you. ugh. I'll be back." Luna snaps her fingers as she disappears. She's no longer in the house.

Hinata looks worried, "What? But. How?"

There's some audible footsteps on the roof. Viper looks concerned, but she doesn’t seem to know what to do.

Spider's ear twitches at the sound but she looks at Elara saying, "so does that mean they'll be going after her?"

"If my understanding is correct, and it's possible I'm completely wrong here, Spark's intention is to capture Luna. When I heard that, I knew what I had to do. I just. Didn't know how else to contact y'all, so I've been leaving messages in her mind, hidden ones that. When decrypted could help save her. And save our world." Elara explains, her voice strained heavily.

"Right and since you're here now can't we skip that?" There's a hint of irritation in Spider's voice as the tapping gets faster.

Elara shakes her head, "it's not that simple. The keys to beating Spark are in Luna's mind. It's in her Mental Locks. I can't access them myself, no matter how much I work with her Memory Map. They need to be things Luna realizes herself, things that shake the locks loose. Until then, Luna and by extension Hinata and myself are in danger. It's why we keep getting attacked by them. Why Viper was attacked at the cafe, or why you guys were attacked in Lunar District. I just. Wanted to try and help out as well."

"That's what that was about?? I swear Nova's just like Solaire, fucking uncreative as hell," Hinata growls, then she points at Elara and shouts, "And what YOU getting out of all of this?? You're not like us, you're not a LUNA. You're just Spark's daughter. Why should we trust you???" Hinata looks a half step away from losing her shit, wildly growling and snarling at Elara.

Viper looks between Hinata and Elara with a conflicted expression, "Maybe we should take a step back? There's no reason to start getting mad at people..."

Spider takes a deep breath replying to Hinata with, "I mean what other choice do we have?"

Hinata forces herself to calm down, but she responds with a forceful, "...fine. But don't fucking betray us again you hear me?!"

Elara exhales and after a moment responds, "I hear you loud and clear! Why do you think I came all the way over here?? I want to help!"

Spider grumbles itching at her arm as she gets up, "I've gotta go, lemme know what you decide tomorrow."

Hinata finally calms down a bit, "Okay, I trust you Elara. And uh have a good uh. What do I even call it a transformation thing?"

Elara sighs, "I should probably go check on Luna. I'll be back shortly." Elara walks out. Spider leaves the living room and secludes herself for yet another full moon.
-----

ApqxWzx6uHQ - "A little bit of resolve is what I need now"

On the roof, Luna is sitting wide-eyed and crying while looking at the Full Moon, as if looking for guidance from it. She mutters to herself, “...i. I hate that it’s familiar to me, but I don’t know where. And why does she know? Why does.. Who-- Elara, what are you? You shouldn’t know this!”

Upon stepping out and seeing her beloved sister sitting on the roof, Elara attempts to hop up but struggles. So instead, she points her palms down, waves at the ground like she was waving at a friend, and a strong wind generates from her hands to lift her up like a jetpack. It takes her a couple moments to achieve enough height to get up there, but she successfully climbs up and sits next to Luna. Luna turns her head away from Elara while trying to hide her tears. A memory replaying in her mind from someone reminding her to never cry in front of others causes her to quickly wipe her tears and internalize her sadness.

Luna is finally the first one to break the silence, "You know why i'm angry right? It's not because of what you called me. I've accepted that a long time ago, it's who I am. I'm just a prototype mana vessel that also can't die very easily. I get that. It's just. I hate that you're aware of that."

"Why wouldn't I be? I have access to your Memory MAP. I know a lot more about you than you probably do. And I know you'd do a lot to protect you right? I'm risking my own ass coming here to talk to you!"

"And that's why I'm mad! The fact that you're putting yourself at danger to help me?? You know I'd walk to the ends of the many worlds to save you right??? You're being reckless!You're.." Luna doesn't know what else to say.

Elara growls at Luna, giving her an enraged look, "I'm like you Luna! Just like how you'd go to the ends of all worlds to protect me and your friends, I'll do the same for you! I fucked up! I restarted Nova Heart, and this is how I plan to FUCKING pay for my sins! I want to save you. You want to save me. Let's do this shit together!!!!!!!!!"

Luna goes dead silent for a few minutes. After some time thinking it over, she growls, "fucking! FINE! You want to sacrifice yourself for me, then fucking DO IT. JUST KNOW THAT I'm not worth it! I'm not worth anything. I'm." She exhales though it's heavily shaky, "i'm. imnotfine." her tone has gone from rage-filled to terrified, "idontknowwhattodo."

Elara carefully put a hand around her shoulder, "then trust in me. trust in your friends. We'll figure out what to do. This is how I intend to repay you." She then stares directly into Luna's eyes as the sun begins to go down and sunset reaches its zenith, tears fall down her face.

"𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐋𝐮𝐧𝐚?"

Just like the promise Hinata gave to Norn, this question also carries a similar weight despite its intangibility. It is a question that must be answered before progressing. It's heavy on Luna's soul; it almost hurts. After a deep breath, but with a strained tone, Luna finally answers:

"𝐈 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐄𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐞."

Elara hugs Luna as the sun fully goes down, "And I won't betray your trust. I promise."

They stay like that for a few minutes.

"Thank you." Luna mutters before wiping her eyes.

In her mind, she notices Elara unlocking herself from her own detention and a new channel called “Elara’s Thoughts” appears in the server.

"Huh. Are you sure that's safe?" Luna asks, tilting her head.

Elara looks happier than Luna’s ever seen. With tears in her eyes, and the brightest smile ever, Elara grabs the Nova Heart emblem off of her knapsack, rips it off, and sets it ablaze with the lighter in her pocket, "I don't.. fucking care. This is my resolve! This is how I will promise my loyalty to you and not to Spark and Chandra! We'll be connected from here on out. No matter what!”

It takes Luna a moment to process but then she nods, "I trust you Elara. Now let's get off this roof please." Luna snaps her fingers and the two disappear returning to the living room.