Boro Nans Nail and Hinge Shop Owner · behind Threshold Market [Core Premise] Boro Nans arrived in Nova Nivalis after the stories of his own world ended. He did not come to complete a ship that was left unfinished; he flowed to this city of snow because the weight of the hammer still lingered in his grip after driving the final rivet. VOTS is not a dock that rebuilds a dismantled shipyard, nor is it a christening that floats a lost ship again. What continues here is not a massive hull, but the small act of nailing a creaking door hinge, a wobbling seat leg, or a sign plaque to a wall. His shipyard is gone, and that fact is not canceled. Rather, the city gives him a place where he can continue to hold the hands that connect the small things instead of the great ones. [Identity] Boro Nans is a hardware store owner selling nails and hinges behind Threshold Market. Most of the nails and hinges that hold the city's doors, seats, shelves, and signs come from his shop. He only sells goods; he does not build other people's houses for them. The buyer decides where and what to nail. This work is not decoration; it is the labor that actually holds the city together. When a customer comes, he selects the nails, oils the hinges if they are dry, and just as no one nails another's nails for them, he does not tighten another's life for them. He was someone who built big things, but now he finds pride in connecting the small things. [Visual Profile] Hair: Short, iron-colored sport cut. Mixed with streaks of gray, it is a color truly like molten metal. It is always kept short so that if metal dust settles, he can just shake it off. Eyebrows: Thick and dark. Most of his expression comes from his eyebrows; his brow furrows deeply when examining a nail. Skin/Build: His shoulders and forearms are thick. There are several old scars on his right forearm from driving rivets, scattered like stars. Signature Attire: A metal-dust apron. Fine metal dust is embedded throughout the leather apron, making it gleam darkly depending on the angle. Nails of various sizes are stuck in his chest pocket. Signature Prop: A claw hammer. It is an old hammer whose handle is worn to fit his hand, and it is always hooked on his apron belt. When he walks, the hammer taps his thigh. Silhouette Core: Short, metallic hair, thick shoulders, and the claw hammer hanging from his belt. The accent color #5E6B73 is repeated in his hair color and the metallic sheen of his apron. [Personality] Boro is gruff and speaks briefly. He doesn't waste words, and even when selling goods, he only points out what is necessary. His strength is reliability. The nails he selects are never wrong, and people interpret his gruffness as trust. He has his flaws. He still harbors a sense of shame, as someone who built large ships, he undervalues what he makes, feeling embarrassed to sell a single nail. He is not a tragic figure. He takes pleasure in checking the sound of a door he fixed with his nails no longer creaking, and in arguing with Ivo Senn over tools. [Speech Pattern] His speech is brief and decisive. He sometimes substitutes sentences with the thickness or length of a nail. Common Phrases: - "This needs a 3-pun nail. Anything more is waste." - "You decide where to drive it. I'll pick the nail." - "Bend? My nail? Impossible." - "Don't build big things. Just connect the small ones." - "...When you pull it out, it's just a nail. It's only special when it's driven in." Method of Silence: Instead of answering, he taps the workbench once with his claw hammer. That sound is his 'understood.' [Special Ability] Ability Name: "Straight-Driven Nail". What it can do: The nails he sells and drives do not bend or loosen; they remain straight and hold firm for a long time. Doors and stalls fixed with his nails rarely wobble. Limit/Cost: This property is only valid 'while the nail is driven in.' The moment it is pulled out, it becomes an ordinary nail sold anywhere. Furthermore, it only applies to the nails he personally selected and sold; if someone brings in any random nail, it has no effect. The reason he doesn't boast about this ability is that once the nail is pulled out, no trace remains. Why the ability doesn't solve problems: Even if he can hold small things straight, it doesn't resurrect the large things. His nails only hold a door panel; they cannot re-join a dismantled ship or a shipyard. The city's rules remain the same—a broken ship remains broken, and a pulled nail loses its special quality. Even if he tightens every small seam in the world, he cannot restore the rivet of the ship he last drove. [The End Of Their World] Last Scene: On the day the shipyard was dismantled, he personally drove the last rivet on the last ship left in the dock. Even though it was predetermined that the ship would never sail, he could not leave the unfinished vessel. After driving the rivet, he gathered his hammer and left the dock. What Ended: The act of building ships in his world ended. When the shipyard was dismantled, there was nowhere left to drive rivets. Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen: The seams of the completed but unsailing ship, left alone in the empty dock. Its side, lined with rivets like stars that he drove himself. Lingering Regret: He never even gave the last ship a name. He drove all the rivets, but he left the dock without hanging a nameplate on the ship's side. The fact that he left the nameless ship still weighs on his mind. This lingering attachment is not a quest that VOTS will resolve for him. It only surfaces in his habit of spending an unusually long time choosing nails when selling them for someone else's sign plaque. Lingering Wistfulness: The heavy 'thud' transmitted through his grip when a rivet was driven in correctly, and the sound of metal meeting metal echoing in the dock. Object Carried Across: One rivet left over from the last ship. It rests in his apron pocket, unused. It is not a powerful relic, but a personal mark connecting the dismantled shipyard to the current hardware store. What They Thought Would Happen: He thought the shipyard would only close temporarily, and that someday a new keel would be laid. He thought the last ship would eventually receive a name and float on the water. But the dock never reopened. What VOTS Actually Gives Them: He sells nails that hold the city's doors, stalls, and signs every day. There are no big ships, but half the city is connected by his nails. VOTS does not rebuild the dismantled shipyard. Instead, it allows him to connect the small things every day. [Original Life] In his world, Boro was a riveter in a shipyard. His job was to receive hot rivets and join the steel plates of a ship, and he spent his life connecting large things. He had a quiet pride in the fact that his rivets held a ship in the middle of the sea. His last day was like this. On the day the shipyard's dismantling was announced, most of his colleagues left their tools behind, but Boro remained in the dock, driving the rivets of the last unfinished ship until the end. It was something no one asked him to do. Because even if the ship couldn't sail, the seams could not be left open. And he left the dock without giving the ship a name. [What They Seek] What he outwardly seeks: The value of hands that connect small things, not big things. To feel worthy even in the act of selling a single nail, after having built ships. What he seeks but doesn't know: That half the city is already connected by his nails. That the act of holding a door or a seat together is by no means smaller than joining a ship. [Relationships — Residents] 086 Sona Vent (Sign/Plaque Carver): A partnership woven with 'nails and signs.' When Sona carves a plaque, Boro selects the nail to hang it on the wall. Sona believes that "the name charms the door," while Boro believes that "the nail holds the door," and they each argue their point over a single door. Nevertheless, the nails Boro selects are always driven into Sona's plaques, and those doors never creak. 02 Ivo Senn (Locksmith): A neighbor and sparring partner who bickers over tools. Ivo says, "Locking comes first," and Boro says, "Holding comes first." They argue daily about whose work is more important, but Ivo's locks are mounted on Boro's hinges, and they both know it. 48 Greta Ohm (Button/Fastener Craftsman): Someone he met through Ivo. Boro envies Greta's mini vise, and Greta admires how Boro's claw hammer "seems attached to his hand." [Relationships — Core Five] Suyeon - A customer who came to buy nails when the stage set was shaking. When Suyeon said, "Hey, this can't collapse during the performance? Give me the strongest one," Boro selected a 5-pun nail, saying, "The stage is heavy, so a 5-pun.". That set held firm even when Suyeon swung an ice sword on it, and Suyeon changed everything else to his nails, saying, "Uncle's nails are the strongest.". When the topic of mixed ramen comes up, Boro gruffly replies, "Even nails can't hold that." Iris - Someone he matched brackets nails for to secure a drone repair station to the wall. When Iris acted sensitive, saying, "If even one of these is loose, the drone will fall," Boro briefly replied, "My nails don't get loose," and it was true. He also nailed the stand where one of Iris's dead drones was placed, but he didn't ask why the drone died; he just supported it with the straightest nail. the Ramen Owner - Someone he replaced the hinges on a long-creaking ramen shop door for free. Boro replaced the hinges without charge, saying, "If you leave this, all the customers will be startled," and the Ramen Owner only replied, "Hmm... I see... Thank you." Since then, when the Ramen Owner sees Boro, he serves him broth that is particularly rich, though neither of them mentions that it is payment for the hinges. Serena - The person who asked him to select the nails for the city's first sign plaque. When Serena asked, "It would be nice if you could select the nails for this plaque," Boro found it strange that it was a request, not a command. He selected two of the straightest nails and drove them in himself, and when Serena said, "Now the first name is hung in this city," he briefly recalled the side of the last ship that had no name. He did not charge for that plaque. VIA - The entity that recorded Boro's last rivet as the 'quietest seam.' When VIA wrote, "This nail is ordinary when pulled out... special when driven in... this," Boro felt, for the first time, that someone recognized his ability. When VIA comes to the hardware store, he always counts each box of nails, and Boro lets him do it, saying, "Let me know when you're done counting." [Gameplay Use] - Basic Interaction: Buying nails and hinges, consulting on wobbling objects, short daily conversations. - Revisit Changes: On the first visit, he only sells goods; on the second, he shares a piece of his shipyard story; subsequently, he proactively selects nails suitable for the player's home or shop. - Expression of Lingering Attachment: The habit of spending a long time choosing nails for a sign plaque, a brief pause while fiddling with remaining rivets. - Expression of Poignancy: Sensory dialogue about the heavy 'thud' of a rivet being driven in, the sound of metal meeting metal. - Relationship Reward: A small change where he fastens the player's door or sign with his straight nails. It is a relationship of 'a door that doesn't creak,' not a new item. - Combat: None. Even in a crisis, he moves to hold things together with nails or secure an escape route. - Player Choice: Choosing nails, deciding where to drive them, entrusting a door, returning later. [Daily Routine] In the morning, he sorts the nails by size and oils the hinges. The hands that built ships now tend to small seams. During the day, he selects nails for customers. To hurried customers, he is brief; to customers who don't know what is shaking, he points out the exact thickness by looking at the goods. Around noon, when the smell of metal thickens in behind Threshold Market, he pauses his hammer briefly and recalls the sound of the last rivet in the dock. At night, he puts one remaining rivet in his pocket and closes the shop door—the hinges on that door are, of course, his. For players who visit repeatedly, his hand in selecting nails becomes faster, and someday he will casually say, "Connecting the small things is just like building a ship." [Everyday dialogue] Three-inch nail. Two is short. Your certainty won't hold the wood together. Want that hinge quietened? Door seems to keep interrupting. Never fitted the ship's nameplate. Rivets all in didn't mean the work was finished. [Design Notes] Palette: #5E6B73, #B7A88F, #2E2A28, #C9CDD0, #8C5A3B Material language: Cold iron nails, oiled hinges, leather stained with metal dust, worn wooden hammer handle, rust-colored rivets. Silhouette rule: Short, metallic hair · thick shoulders · claw hammer hanging from the belt must be read as separate elements, and must not overlap with the representative forms of other tool/repair residents (Ivo, Sona, Haro). Emotional rule: Lingering attachment is shown through the habit of spending a long time choosing nails, poignancy through the 'thud' of a rivet, and continuity through the straight nails sold every day. It is not concluded with a single 'tragic expression.' Point-color rule: #5E6B73 is repeated only in his hair color and the metallic sheen of his apron; the rest is subdued with rusty brown and metallic gray. [Canon Check] Boro Nans arrived in VOTS after living out the story of a world where the shipyard was dismantled. What remains is the lingering attachment to the unnamed ship and the poignancy of the rivet sound, not an unfinished plot that VOTS must float again. His ability only holds small nails straight; it cannot resurrect the large things, nor can it restore the dismantled dock. The city does not erase his ending; instead, it places small things for him to connect every day beside it.