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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

whip it good
i. arrival - meet the neighbours

[ survive.

survive, no matter what, whether it's the war-torn SEAUn and its surrounding factions or this strange new place that defies all human understanding. the only silver lining is that no one is shooting at him, tying him up, or otherwise trying to kill him. the downside? being cast out in some crystal-limned wilderness. but he survives; the instinct hard-coded into his dna. hell, he's survived a labyrinth of medieval traps devised by a psychopathic hunter-cyborg who hunted people for sport, he can live with this.

he's nonetheless surprised when the moon knights pick him up, civil and kind and fortunately tolerant of a chain-smoking stranger.

moonblessed, they said. kogami has never been blessed with anything, much less by a moon, of all things, but he files the information away -- however improbable and ridiculous it may be. then again, he did spend the last couple of days in a crystalline hellscape that is definitely not anywhere on earth, so there's that.

things are markedly more unpleasant in the medical bay, when survival instincts kick in and kogami lashes out, wary and not about to be subject to a barrage of tests by strangers, kind or not, and the unceremonious nerfing is unpleasant. the examination ends quickly, and kogami is released and duly transported to lunatia, a metropolis that bears no resemblance to anything he's ever known. bustling and brightly lit, but with no technology bearing the hallmarks of the sibyl system or any of its cunning exports. tenzing would have liked this place, perhaps. frederica would probably have insinuated herself somewhere by now and reached out to him. then again, it's just as well that he's on his own; he hasn't come to any useful conclusion about this place, and with so many unknown variables, going solo is expedient.

he finds his own apartment, simple and unassuming, spends nearly two hours coming through every nook and cranny for possible spy cameras before he emerges into the city, cigarette between his lips and his revolver safely tucked into his jacket. next objective: figure out just what this place is, because something that seems this close to thomas more's utopia must have its own ugly secrets. he would know -- he escaped from one.

he observes for now, exploring, mingling, taking in bizarre, otherworldly sights before choosing to reach out to the closest person. ]

Hey. Where can I find cigarettes?

night of the living dummy
ii. let him catch you?

[ so, vacuum tubes sucking up leaves, small children, and other people are a thing now, is it? kogami takes that in stride now, too, especially when it seems like the kids seem to be having fun. adults, it seems, not so much. kogami's careful to stay out of vacuuming range, but ever so often someone shoots out of those tubes, and despite his best intentions of putting as much distance between himself and human projectiles, he ends up inadvertently catching them when he strays close enough to an opening. old habits die hard, he can't just let someone take a hard landing, right?

now is no exception, when someone practically tumbles out and lands in his arms.

he grunts. ]

You okay?

bird is the word
iii. hugbugs

[ what the hell are those things?

small, ugly, but oddly adorable in a barmy sort of way, kogami's observed them long enough to realise that they're largely harmless, if oddly fascinated with people who come across the unnerving, huge and shiny pumpkins. one of them has practically attached itself to him, this cute little furry thing with tiny horns and no discernible eyes -- how does it see? -- and efforts to send it away have somehow backfired, because this particular hug bug has somehow thought the scrap of food kogami has tossed to him is a treat, and is now following him, effusive with compliments that kogami could probably do without. but it's harmless, right?

and why is there another one? and another? he stops when a green one bumps into his leg, looking up with dewy eyes. hug?

kogami doesn't do hugs, but the thing looks so hopeful. so, after looking around at other 'moonblessed' (that's a really strange name, by the way) and noting that hugging similar creatures don't seem to result in any kind of maiming or death, he actually bends down to pick it up under its arms, holding it at arms length. ]

All right, settle down. What about a treat?

[ then, he looks over at the unfortunate person who might happen to be next to him. ] Do you want to hug this one?

iv. wildcard!

Edited 2019-11-08 02:33 (UTC)

[ Having returned here after a near two turns after finally finding herself having left was— disappointing to say the least. Especially when she ended up being brought back at such a crucial point in time...

At the very least, she knew that time would be stilled and waiting back home, so she wasn't as panicked as most would be. However, it was still going to be an effort to adjust to this place and it. strangeness again!! Especially when she ends up sucked right into a tube and shrieks, being flung out and tossed into the arms of—

Oh, hello handsome!

Her ears however, have lifted up in surprise, hands curled into cat paws as she stares at the man who has managed to catch her, and she stares at him with bright blue eyes. ]

Bloody hells. Good catch, lad!

[ She's not exactly huge in the first place, much to her annoyance, though she does stare openly. ]

If I'd have known these dastards were bringing in even more lookers, I'd have done this a lot sooner. You can put me down now, aye?

[ She doesn't mind being carried right now, really. ]

You new here?

[ is that a -- are those cat ears?

kogami, thankfully, doesn't immediately drop her. he's seen a great deal of brutal, nasty, unnerving and wonderful sights in his years, but a human-cat hybrid is apparently something he gets to add to the ever-growing list now. she's pretty, with the bluest eyes he's ever seen, and an accent he cannot yet place.

he's putting her down carefully, making a soft noise of amusement at that honest appraisal -- he knows he's pretty easy on the eyes and takes it in stride (it's just another tool in his kit, after all), but he's never seen anyone be so up-front about it before. ]

Never too late to start. [ he says dryly, although something about what she's said piques his curiosity immediately -- she must know an unflattering a thing or two about this place. ] Yeah, I'm new. Dastards, you said?

[ Genuine soft fur and the nicest build to go with it, buddy! She is indeed, what looks to be a cat-human hybrid, though she'd protest that she's not a cat if anyone said that aloud. Her accent is similar to a rougher-mixed British one, even if there's no England or Japan in her word for that matter— but that's the world of Hydaelyn for you.

As she's let down, she lands easily on her feet and stares up at him, tall hyur that he is and her ears flick up in interest. For someone who'd protest to not being called a cat, she certainly exhibits their behaviors!

And when he talks, she can't help but enjoy the sound, before letting out a small huff of amusement. ]

Aye, not as bad as another place I was stolen to before this, but still a bunch of shites if you ask me. Suppose they couldn't get enough of me and had to bring me back.

[ She's not sure why, though. She didn't even remember this place when she left. And she was back to her own life— though her attention is focused on the b before her. ]

Think you're better off here, lad. The other place would have made you a submissive or dominant and made you follow all these shite rules— anyroad, that's not important. Where'd you drop in from and where can I get more of you?

[ She's getting a bit of a subtle sniff around him- had he met her from two years ago (if he'd arrived a few days earlier than today, who'd have thought)— she'd have been far more blatant with her invitation than she is now.

A smile brightens her features, then, perhaps slightly muted than the one others would know here but one that's warm all the same. ]

kogami shinya | psycho pass

ii.

no subject

no subject

ii

no subject

no subject

hugbugs!!

hug the bugs!

with the biggest smooshes!!

ii. let him catch you?

no subject

no subject

wildcard

no subject

no subject

iii

no subject

no subject

iv

oh my god i love him already

ii

no subject

ii because why not

YEAH