prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .009

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You awaken amidst the darkness with only a faint light to greet you. Your body is hemmed in by shards of crystals, gently sparkling and possibly pricking your skin. The surrounding landscape is dyed in the pinks and purples of the dusk filled with crystals protruding from the ground, some as large as a skyscraper. Even the few shy moon creatures you find in the wild have strange crystal growths on their hides. This is far from home— perhaps a dream? You pinch your skin and slap your cheeks, yet nothing seems to do the trick. Searching for answers yields nothing but an endless expanse of purple dust as far as the eye can see. You have four options: one, panic; two, soil yourself; three, admire it all then soil yourself; or four, go into survival mode. Eventually, you’ll realize that you’re not alone.

After a day or two of living off the crystal wilderness, a group of people find you worse for wear. They are the gallant Moon Knights from the planet of Prismatica. After the strange phenomenon during the past months when scientists observed the sudden appearance of rainbow crystals in the sky, the government has been feverishly combing through the moon for more Moonblessed to be rescued. You’ll eventually be brought into Iris’s moon government center.

You all may have your usual inquiries — Where are we? Who are you? What's going on? Why did I inhale all those permanent markers in the third grade? — and the Prismals are almost too eager to answer. They tell you about their world and about the first appearance of the Moonblessed as the medical staff give you an examination to make sure you’re not carrying any viruses or biological hazards. If you react violently, you may be restrained and nerfed with a specialized neurotransmitting gun that releases a numbing agent through the top of your spine. Once the examinations are over, you’re informed that you will be provided accommodations on their planet during your stay.

While waiting for transport to be prepared, you may freely roam around the government center. Eventually you’re called back from exploring, escorted to the docks, and led onto a large transport vessel that makes frequent trips back and forth between the moons and the planet. Faces onboard vary from both old and new Moonblessed as well as the local Prismals. The next destination: Prismatica.

▶ Whip It Good
Iris Moon, Government Center (Arrival) and Planet Prismatica, City of Lunatia | top

Welcome to Prismatica’s hub, Lunatia, the city of your dreams! A bustling metropolis lush with bright lights, vibrant colors, luxuriant plant life, and all the conveniences of technology absent from your own world… It seems like paradise to all the uninitiated. After a quick tour of the city, new arrivals can find themselves getting cozy in their new homes.

A Settle in your new home at Level 2 to find new roommates and say hello to your neighbors! City officials will give you directions to the designated districts across Level 2 and instruct you to pick out a unit. Each apartment complex has a different aesthetic, some may look cozy, some stylish, and some bizarre. The free accommodations have a basic living space that can only fit two or three people at most in one unit.

Starter Chromaspace furnishings are provided which can be controlled with the touch of a built-in panel. Examples are color-changing curtains, transforming sofa beds, cabinets turning into tables, etc. Customizing your apartment or moving out will have to wait until you earn more chroma. Until then, why don’t you check out your new neighborhood or explore the city levels? Maybe your new roommates or neighbors can give you a “hand” with allowance for dinner.

B At the Crystarium Moonports is a new family restaurant called Grapplebears, here to serve your favorite dishes from all around the galaxy at affordable prices! The menu ranges from the atomically hot and spicy Chamakshalan curry rice, delectable dragonsaur steak served with mashed space-tatoes, to the sweet and creamy Lunatian milkshakes that bring all the boys to the yard, all prepared by their handsome and huggable bear crew.

As you might have noticed, the restaurant staff is a ragtag group with members from planets unknown to both Prismals and Moonblessed. The waiters and waitresses in particular are tall, muscular, leather-clad bears who take your order by whipping you with a special riding crop that compels you to bark out your order — but only if you ask to be, of course! They might induce you to reveal other unrelated interests so make sure you’re not thinking about anything embarrassing!

If you chat up the staff or customers, you learn more about the restaurant’s origins. The bears say their planets* were also wiped by the Calamity hundreds of years ago, and life for them has been difficult for them since then…

*Further information about these planets is unavailable at this time.

▶ Night of the Living Dummy
City of Lunatia | top

The last vestiges of Geistnacht have officially passed and the first chilly autumn breeze ushers in the new season. The city is awash in giant piles of browning leaves that decorate every walkway.

A To deal with the mass collection of fallen leaves, many buildings across the city have been retrofitted with a new disposal system to help clean up. A sprawling network of automated vacuum tubes around the city will efficiently suck all those pesky leaves right up. While children love playing inside and using them to “teleport” around Lunatia, they have also been known to spontaneously suck up anyone who’s not too careful. You may find yourself falling on some hapless bystander on their afternoon walk, or crammed in a tube with your new neighbors. Lunar Scientia officials warn everyone to be careful of where you walk, else you might need to crawl your way to sweet freedom.

B A pop-up shop in Level 1 is attracting much of the locals' attention, run by a peddler who speaks in a low, elongated hiss and wears a hood over his face. He assures you that his face is of no consequence. What is more important is his selection of wares! In contrast to his cloaked, enigmatic appearance, his travel cart is a Barbie pink explosion of frills, hearts, glitter. He will tell all visitors he comes from the Valley of the Crimson Serpents, which Prismals and older Moonblessed arrivals find odd. Wasn’t the Sanguis moon uninhabitable?

Among the peddler’s wares are adorable, wide-eyed and heavily perfumed dolls in all sorts of clothes a child dreaming of rainbows and tea parties could ever ask for. Hug and squeeze a doll, and you will be greeted by a pre-recorded voice telling you how they’re your bestest friend ever. It’s like they were made for lovin’ you! But if you look away for one moment, you can almost swear you hear a snake’s hiss, its long tongue licking the shell of your ear… The next time you see the doll, its body will be in a slightly different position or location. Is it… following you? Fortunately, a minimal amount of moonlacing will make it leave you alone. You can wait it out too, but why would you?

Destroy a doll and it will later reappear wherever you are when you least expect it, good as new, but leaking from their porcelain heads is a strange pink, glitter-covered liquid. The peddler calls it the “love juice” giving the doll an extra dose of affection for you.

▶ Bird is the Word
Level 2, Greatmoon Groves | top

As autumn paints Lunatia with its golden hues, pumpkin decorations and desserts are now in vogue. This is thanks to Chroma-infused pumpkin seeds, which allow them to rapidly grow in all sorts of sizes, shapes, and colors. The Moonblessed are invited to visit one of the largest pumpkin patches in the city housed within the Greatmoon Groves, where they can enjoy the sight of oversized, colorful neon and sparkling semi-phallic pumpkins, expertly carved to greet you with their buck-toothed smiles.

A The pumpkin patch is full of toddler-sized creatures called hugbugs. When they are not tending to the pumpkins, they follow the Moonblessed around, requesting hugs and treats in exchange for their obedience.

Reward them and they will do simple errands for you and give you compliments. They will also be your personal hype men, talking up your strengths, talents, and physical assets to all those special someones you’re trying to impress. Once you earn their trust, they will be your friends for life!

Ignore them, hurt them, or bully them, and they will cry and place a curse upon you, reducing your self-esteem to nothing and magically forcing you to cry along with them. The effects of the curse may last for up to a week if you’re not careful! But how could you do such a thing? The hugbugs are sensitive and want somebody to love.

B If you manage to survive your encounter with the hugbugs, you are welcome to join in on the Prismal knitting group and enjoy creating your own fanciful scarf made of Galadrian thread, which is known for its bright, golden sheen and aromatic properties. Give it to a friend or wear it yourself, and you will notice a strange ability to attract animals and insects of all kinds. Live out your Disney Princess fantasy! Or a Hitchcockian nightmare. It’s all a matter of perspective as a whole flock of honking birds comes bounding towards you.

▶ Questions
If you have any questions regarding this test drive meme, please ask them in the Questions thread below.

▶ As a reminder, test drive memes are for new characters only. However, current players are more than welcome to use these prompts for their own posts in the IC communities, personal inboxes, catch-all posts, etc.!
▶ As our test drive memes are game canon, feel free to keep any threads that happen here as canon for your character should they be accepted.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Miwako wasn't sure... but it seems like it's definitely following me.

[ her fingers had curled a little more before loosening their hold, now chancing that look back at last ]

A peddler was selling dolls and Miwako hugged one... but after walking away it felt like I was being watched. And every time I turned around the doll was there. But if someone else sees it, then it's not just me, right?

[...

you know, as much as the past couple months have been fraught and he is regretting basically everything in his life

this. this is a good idea. he kind of loves it.]

Nice little council you've got there. Are they providing any actual input, or are you just enjoying having a bunch of yes-men?

[...there's actually no judgment in that last part, he's just clearly amused.]

[So there was another advocate for the idea that this place was exactly as the “Prismals” on the moon base had presented it. Hazuki still isn’t swayed fully from the theory that this was an elaborate scheme perpetrated by a rival faction Contractor, but... if there was a Contractor out there capable of inducing this level of hallucination...]

Define “simple”.

[She’d heard a few things by now. Some from stuttering virgin types, some from more smooth operators, but... she was more interested in a colder fact right now.

As much as she did enjoy the stuttering virgin type... Now wasn’t the time.

It was, however, the time to drink. Never enough to impair, but... the memory of drunken haze from the time before she’d become a Contractor was enough to nourish her now.]

You know me, drive a hard bargain.

[Lead the way, knowing exactly where he was going and keeping a goo pace; knew that Lena could keep up no issue, but he wasn't trying to make her have to jog- even if she probably wouldn't mind that much.

No the point. The hand not keeping the pizza box balanced just slipped in to the pocket of his hoodie.] Always moving.

Missed the latest insanity at least, sure something will pop up later. Ran in to any other familiar faces yet?

[ it's a little silly, but she's Very Charmed by how he treats his weapon... he seems to have its' safety in mind first, which, you know, for someone who's essentially one, too, it just... makes an impression.

at least the landing wasn't as harsh as it could be, she thinks -- a pile of dry leaves is better than straight up asphalt, or something... ]

... oh. [ she doesn't even realize she's gotten so comfortable on top of him until he asks, shaking her head quickly.

but, well, before she gets up, she places both hands next to his shoulderblades and pushes a little, playful and gentle. ] A little rough around the edges, but very pleasant, regardless. Thank you for breaking my fall, Mister Rokurou.

[ she beams, and slowly drags herself off of him, landing in another pile of leaves -- in which she promptly sinks, almost to her head. ]

... ah. It's deeper than I thought.

Maybe I made it look this way because that's what I think of his dumb face!

[ No one will believe that. Not a single person... ]

[ Woah, woah, this girl is a fast-talker! Until she started mentioning reindeer and talking snowmen, she'd almost have her pegged pretty instantly for a New Yorker. Of course, the Big Apple has some characters, so to speak, but... ]

Sounds like you've got a bit of a motley crew...

[ Needless to say, she hasn't seen anything quite like that. The bright red ribbon on top of her head droops at the tips, like slumping rabbit ears-- ]

Can't say I've seen any snowmen around in fall...but I'm pretty sure something like that would stick out like a sore thumb. If we look hard enough, I'm sure they'll turn up. ...As it happens, I'm keeping my eyes peeled for company, myself.

Oh.

( he raises a hand to tap his chin, then rubs his cheeks with both of his hands. maybe he jumped the gun and didn't need to get so... aggressive toward keigo. what would his patients say if they saw him behave like that?

and then he remembers that those circumstances don't exist here. but the guilt remains. )

Well... I moved in, I suppose. I believe I have other options.

( he swishes his tail. )

Your name?

[ well... that was definitely more manageable. keigo had experience with emotional whiplash, so at least he wasn't taking his chance to leave the room. besides, now he was intrigued... this guy already had a tail and ears like he was cordis... but it wasn't time for the cordis moon yet. so... was he a native? or maybe someone from out of town?

...questions he should probably just ask him, but first things first. ]

Aah, well, welcome to the area? I'm Asano Keigo. [ offering his name made this easier, right? ] What's yours?

That does sound like a great idea! I do feel like eating something sweet.

A bit? But I'm pretty used to it at this point.

[The way he talks about it is so casual, one could almost thing he's talking about the weather.]

He hurried a bit to catch up with Daihannya so that he could walk by his side as it didn't seem polite to talk to his back. He looked over at him, quite puzzled.

"Departed...? Where did they go? Oh? Who exactly is here?"

Uh oh.. ( now he fucked up, he sure did. caster knows that he should be more careful with his words but he's as stupid as the rest, saying whatever that comes to mind hoping it's offensive but perhaps.. there's words he shouldn't say. honestly, this must be where he dies? he can feel it? his young, magus life, just coming to an end.. he didn't even get to see the last human's dream ..

what a horrible way to die! her finger presses against the fabric of his clothes, she may be prideful but she doesn't handle things any better than he does. ) You didn't have to ask for my help! Even if this wasn't the case, I would have caught you regardless!

( ears twitch, earrings moving in tandem and don't act like he didn't hear that incantation! there's a complete 180 turn as he's quickly falling down to his knees, placing his hands together in prayer that she'll leave him alone. it's a cowardice move but it's helped him in the past — for being a wise magus, he doesn't think to tap into his clairvoyance to take a peek of what may happen so instead — )

Forgive meeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Don't kill meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I'm a beautiful and handsome nobodyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!! ( there's a smack of something rough against his head, the sound of heavy item smacking against the ground and he's already feeling a red mark blossoming on the area of his forehead. he's looking towards the ground, picking up the rock that's been thrown at him to analyze the weapon and should he feel embarrassed for begging for his life because of this? he should be, but he's not. )

You could have made this bigger... ( he holds the rock tightly in one hand, pressing a kiss against the back and there's a small faint glow of purple that emanates from inside his palm and once he opens it, there's nothing but flower petals left over. as if the pink and purple pieces have a mind of their own, they float from his hand and makes a circle around gwenhwyfar before carrying off with the wind. he slowly raises back to his feet, flowers blooming around his shoes as he takes a step towards the female and in return he knocks his knuckles against her forehead where he had been hit with the rock, as if instilling knowledge while giving her a word of advice. ) Incantations in battles are too slow and will never get the job down, just summon a sword and wack things — ( as soon as he says that however, a light forms in his hand taking on the form of a sword covered in a bright aura around the blade but the hilt remains blue and gold. it's only for show but that is excalibur that he's holding, showing how simple it is to summon a weapon before it disappears right after. )

So you can smack me silly before I run my mouth, okay? ( at least it's better than hoping that she's not going to summon a boulder to crush him with. )

Praise?

[Praise them for what? Being a nuisance? Though Akutagawa could relate. He's a seeker of praise himself, and he knows how it feels not to receive it. It's a feeling that eats you up inside and makes you question everything. He hates it.

Though he doesn't like to be lectured by the man-tiger about his shortcomings, because Atsushi has plenty of his own. Thankfully, Atsushi positions himself in a place where Akutagawa can give the tiger boy a swift kick for his smart mouth.]

Don't get arrogant, Jinko, just because you see me in this pitiful state.

[He makes sure to press the heel of his shoe right into him. He rubs at his eyes trying the clear them of unshed tears. He just wants this to be over already.]

Tell me how I should praise them.

I do not. In fact, I rarely need to eat to begin with. ( he raises his eyes, looking at nothing in particular as he recalls some of his books back in his clinic. ) Humans need more maintenance in general compared to ribika, and never use their tongues when it comes to grooming...

( and then he blinks. titus' reaction is welcome. more than welcome, actually. )

Yes, I am. Though I have been missing my books for a long time, to mainly spend my time reading is something I truly desire more than anything.

( he huffs. )

That, and peace. Peace and quiet.

[Well that leaves just one question...]

Did you?

"Likely back to their citadels. They are not here anymore."

It was what it was. He wasn't all that concerned about it really.

"Those who remain are myself, Nihongou, Souza Samonji, Kashuu Kiyomitsu, and Mikazuki Munechika."

Prince Charming? [The concept isn't foreign to him, but Yaha-kui zaShunina fails to see how it applies here. At least he doesn't seem bothered by the strange man's touching, in fact he barely reacts to it at all. He's hardly less a doll than the one Merlin had made in his likeness. The only thing that even gets a response is the sudden flower petal on his nose, resulting in zaShunina crossing his eyes to try to focus on it as it falls.]

I do not trust you. [And yet neither does the tone in which he says it carry any semblance of suspicion. He voices his distrust in the same manner as someone stating that they had eggs for breakfast that morning; simple and factual, with no room for debate.

It's also very likely that his understanding of the concept of "trust" is wildly different from Merlin's.]

I've been here a few months. Enough to get acclimatized to the world.

[But not enough to find a way to leave. Although unlike many of the people here, she's in no hurry to go home. Why rush to oblivion? Occasional annoyance aside, she's reasonably happy here. She has more freedom than she ever did back home.

The arches an eyebrow at the glow behind his headband, but declines to ask about it for now. If he wanted to draw attention to it, he wouldn't have covered it up.

She hovers in place. This world takes some getting used to, and even moreso for those not accustomed to modern human technology.]

I have a few minutes to answer questions. Most of what they say when people arrive here sounds like complete nonsense.

[Or at least that had been her impression. Plus, they overloaded people who were already in shock at their arrival with more information than they could process in a short span of time.]

[Sorry Akutagawa, did you mean to kick him there? Because a hand comes up to catch that kick, and Akutagawa might find his foot behind held at bay by a fuzzy hand with sharp claws.]

I should warn you against arrogance too. I'm not the same 'Atsushi' you probably know, and I don't fight the same way he does.

[A cheerful warning away from violence, complete with a smile that has a few too many sharp edges. Though he doesn't expect it to work, he does want to be able to say 'I told you so' later.

He might also be hoping that it doesn't work. He's been itching for a rematch, since he was the loser in his last encounter with any Akutagawa.]

Just tell them they're doing a good job. Whatever they're doing, they're trying their best.

"... we can return back to our citadels?"

That was a bit of a relief to know! He nodded as Daihannya listed out the names, then his heart couldn't help fluttering at the last name. A light blush rose to his cheeks.

"I-I see. Have all of you been here long?"

( asato is not necessarily the smartest cat, but he can be remarkably perceptive. even having asked him directly, he still doesn't really know what this guy's deal is — he's left to try to puzzle out what he can. for nearly all of his life he had had to be a student of body language and what he could glean from the conversations of others; he is far more accustomed to doing this than contributing to conversation himself. what he sees in these few fleeting moments is the momentary aggravation on his face at being driven somewhere, and that makes it apparent. he tries to control everything, every moment, every movement, and when he can't, it strikes a nerve. asato is not wont to care for why, not unless curiosity gets the better of him, but he quietly keeps it in mind. it's not exactly his usual modus operandi, but you can only get pushed around so much before you want to do some pushing back yourself.

he breathes out a sigh of relief as the fingers detangle from his hair again, and his deep blue eyes keep track the motion of cain stepping back, the vertical line of the jacket dropping to the ground. they flick back up to him just as he's stepping back up into his personal space, eliciting asato back up on instinct. he's guided until he's backed up against the wall, something which causes his ears to flatten a degree. his eyes never move from cain's, watchful and measuring, even as the hand follows the line of his sternum to his neck. that, too, he doesn't really like, but he tries to calm the kneejerk reactions, taking each moment at a time.

he tries to manipulate his head head forward, so of course he wants to want to do the opposite, but — "try to keep up, koshechka." whatever hint of a growl which had started to rumble out of his throat is curtailed by the kiss. it definitely has a lot less impact than the last, but asato's response is still similar; he is at first locked up, tense, tentative in his decision to part his lips and open his mouth into the kiss less for impetuous contrarianism and more for momentary uncertainty. it is just like cain is: fast, aggressive, unpredictable. at first asato is a poor match, his own experience in this arena perilously limited. but he is not so beholden to the shackles of self-consciousness as others might be, so he recovers, rebounds, making to match his tempo. the few times sharp incisors and canines come dangerously close to nipping at lips or tongue are perfectly accidental — or perhaps just barely-reined in instinct — something that doesn't extend to the hand that raises to meet the junction of his neck and shoulder, fingertips and then claws beginning to dig lightly in in a feline instinct of grabbing hold of something in the heat of a moment.

the hand at his waist is something easily set aside mentally at first, with all else happening, but as the fingers curl further past the waistline, he takes more notice. it is little more than a lapse in cadence in the kiss, a fleeting, still moment of questioning.

one that asato follows up by very non-accidentally biting cain's bottom lip. not so much that he wanted to draw blood, mind, but ribika teeth are sharp. )

[ I'm upset that I laughed. You win this round... ]

'I need a drink' he says...

[ He's the one that got thrown to the ground, quite literally! But he doesn't complain much, just groans as he tries to sit up and pull himself out of this ridiculous cartoonish situation. ]

I hope your sword was worth it.

It really was. "Turn over a new leaf" as we get pelted with dead ones.

▶ Whip It Good

a. part one
[ being abruptly ripped from finishing his paperwork at the office to... wherever strange acid trip the moon had been left tanizaki predictably drained. he generally didn't have a lot of energy to spare thanks to the nonsense they all got up to back home, but it was more so now than ever.

perhaps what a more pressing matter to tanizaki than finding a roommate was the absence of a familiar presence that hadn't parted from tanizaki for more than a few hours since before he could remember.

his sister, naomi.

tanizaki couldn't really care about what anyone was saying about that chroma stuff or whatever prismals were. all that was on his mind since the moment they dragged him kicking and screaming (quite literally) from that initial area to the more populated and lived-in city was finding naomi. so sure, he was given an apartment block to explore, but he was using the time to look for his sister. anyone who came up to him would get one of two responses: ]

Have you seen my sister? She's about this tall... long, straight black hair..?

[ or: ]

Hey! You! You've been here a while, right? Where the hell are they keeping my sister?!

[ of course, the severity of his response would depend on just how worn down he was... ]

a. part two
[ by some stroke of luck or other reason no one could explain, tanizaki eventually calmed down. he wasn't bordering on murderous just yet, but he was definitely a bit ... depressed. though whatever he had been told seemed to be convincing enough to assuage his anger, it did very little to make him feel less alone. for as much as his sister's nonsense (very light sense of the term) bothered him, she was still the most important person to him. he'd think that having a little privacy would be nice every once in a while, but this was a big extreme.

so he'd eventually picked a unit to stay in, though that was a meaningless designation to him. he wasn't planning on staying for long, but how many others had the same thoughts he did about that? some of them seemed to be stuck there for some time...

whatever the case, moping might not have solved anything or answered those questions, but it didn't stop tanizaki from wallowing in his misery. he was listless in his exploration, leaving his door open as he uselessly scrolled through the different colors of curtains this digital panel provided him with. something to use to pretend he actually cared... ]

▶ Bird is the Word

a. [ one of tanizaki's weaknesses (besides naomi and her endless list of wants) was cats and other small creatures. he quite enjoyed playing with animals and caring for them, so when he came across the pumpkin patch with all the strange critters, he was done for long before he could get a word in edgewise.

one after another, he'd cave in to their requests for hugs, and it wasn't long before he had a small gathering of them circled around him in the pumpkin patch, each one showering tanizaki with more compliments than the last. it was... overwhelming, to be honest.

so, if any passerby didn't immediately briskly walk away, tanizaki would look up with very obvious "help me" eyes as the little bastards used him like a pillow or requested more attention. ]

W-wouldn't you like to make another friend?

[ directed as much at the passerby as it would be one of the hugbugs. the real question, though, was would anyone sacrifice themselves for tanizaki? ]

▶ wildcard

[ if you'd like to do something specific that i haven't outlined here, feel free to shoot me a starter or a PM to plot! you can also visit tanizaki's permissions/opt out post for sensitive subject matter that may come up! ]

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▶ TDM .009

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he may not hear the end of this but anyone would have done the same in this position

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tanizaki junichirou | bungou stray dogs | sanguis