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

[ you know who else looks just like wei wuxian? another wei wuxian — except this one holds less of a resemblance, much to the irony of everything, because mo xuanyu and wei wuxian hold no similar genes (despite, again, everything). the general atmosphere is the same, but there are visible differences.

when they bump into each other, it's because one is distracted by his thoughts, while the other is distracted by an equally red hugbug who has also attached itself to wei ying's hips, and it's almost a bit too nostalgic; the difference here being that a-yuan, back then, was nowhere as energetic or excitable. he was just a small child who'd cling to his leg every other minute.

wei wuxian recognizes himself easily, but he doubts himself would recognize him. should he even wonder how this is possible at all? this is very much clearly his younger self in all of his glory (how young? if he had to shoot a wild guess, isn't he still studying at the cloud recesses? so young!!!), and between all of his thoughts, he dismisses them with ease. this is going to be fun. look at him! this is an once-in-a-lifetime experience! ]

Hm? Oh, it's a pumpkin stain. This little guy over here has been following me around ever since he spilled some pumpkin juice on me. I told him it's fine, and now he won't leave me.

[ is the hugbug even a he?? who knows. wei wuxian gives the little weird monster a pat on the head once it starts feeling guilty again, reassuring it it's okay. he can just wash his clothes once he's home. ]

I'm sure they didn't mean anything by it. The stain should be easy to wash out, at least.

[wei ying hefts his hugbug - that he's taken to calling xiaoji, for all that it resembles a chicken not at all - upright as it wobbles on its feet.

truthfully, there is something familiar about the man that stands in front of him. not his face, no, but everything else - his posture, his speech, the glint in his eyes as wei ying feels himself being looked at with utmost curiosity. wei ying stills his tongue, though, and holds on to his thoughts for a little longer. his encounter earlier with certain persons of interest has informed him that things are not always what they seem here, and so he proceeds with caution.

he still minds his manners, though. it's better to assume good standing than to accidentally offend someone whose class stands above one's own station, and though there are few that rank higher than the yunmeng jian sect back home, the same cannot be said in this foreign land, so wei ying bows his head in respect and introduces himself first, as a gentleman would.]

Again, my apologies. My name is Wei Wuxian, [and he hesitates to include the rest of the spiel, deciding finally to keep it to himself for now,] and— And your companion is dancing rather strangely.

[both of their hugbugs are, actually. it's an odd dance, seeing as there's no music to be heard anywhere, but truthfully wei ying is entertained by it.]

I'm sure he didn't. That's what I've been saying, but he won't let go.

[ which, in all its irony, is quite similar to how he holds onto his own guilt, too. he may apologize over and over to those who deserve to hear the apologies, may even know himself some of what has happened is hardly his fault, but he'll embrace the guilt — because someone has to, because the cultivation world points fingers at him, because if he doesn't, who will?

but that's too deep of a talk, too sad for such a peculiar encounter. his younger self is polite and respectful like he remembers himself being, and between musing at which name to give him and watching the hugbugs dance like it's a ritual of reunion, wei wuxian can't keep himself from smiling wide. ]

Maybe it's like a reunion dance. Or they're old friends and this is a secret meeting ritual. Hmmm, maybe they're even related!

[ because, you know, how ironic would it be if both red hugbugs knew each other or had some relation when both their masters(?) were the same person? maybe it's yet another once-in-a-lifetime experience, to see the hugbugs doing such a weird dance. ]

How did you get yours to follow you around?

I pet its head a few times, when it first bumped against me. It's followed me since then.

I do hope they are related, though. Family is important, and being separated from them can scar the soul in irreparable ways.

Ah, they're so energetic, these little beasts.

[ in truth, wei wuxian has since fed the creature, as well as named it. it's a pleasant enough being, cute in the ugly, lumpy way that it is. sure, it's fairly needy, constantly demanding attention, but honestly wei wuxian can relate to the sentiments that seem to power the creature's neediness.

wei wuxian crouches down to watch the hugbugs dance like their lives depend on it. it's fascinating, how they can contort their bodies, and wei wuxian idly contemplates attempting some of the moves just to see if the human body can successfully attempt them.

—oh, wait. he's forgetting something, isn't he? ]

I didn't catch your name, Mister.

[ he nods at every word, because it sounds very much like something he would do. he did, after all, also pet his hugbug and earn his eternal affection just like that; except his follows him around due to their little incident, and how forgiving his new friend? master? could be.

'family is important, and being separated from them can scar the soul in irreparable ways' — he smiles, aren't you a bit too young to know that? there's a lot of things that will happen in the future with his family that will scar him, and for a ghost of a second, his smile falters to something more melancholic.

right, a name. should he just introduce himself as his future, older self or... ]

Hmmmm. I'm Mo XuanYu. [ it's not entirely a lie! but he'll have his fun for now. his younger self would find out the truth soon enough, regardless. ]

I've heard a lot about you, A-Xian. [ a-xian, because he's older; he gets to have this intimacy. even if it likely sounds strange for the other. ] A prodigy child, aren't you? Smart and bold, if not a bit too arrogant. There isn't a single person who doesn't know about the rowdy disciple of Yunmeng.

[wei wuxian doesn't recognize the name, even though he's clearly recognized by the man. the familiarity in address surprises him, but he doesn't comment on it, even if he feels himself frowning because of it. this man is rather forward! perhaps he's offended the man's family in some way? he's met with a lot of folks, gentry and common alike; perhaps this is a call-out?

if that's the case, then wei wuxian will accept it. he'll have to figure out what his offense has been without asking so plainly, for both their pride's sake.]

I can't imagine that I'm so well-known, Mo-shu. Though I am rather the troublemaker, that is true. My brother Jiang Cheng is as gifted - and more well-mannered than I am!

[family is family, whether by blood or by heart - sect leader jiang fengmian will always be as much of a father to wei wuxian, and by the same token, madame yu and a-cheng and li-jie are his family, with no question in mind and heart. he doesn't need to carry the jiang name to give proof to it - even if the clan were to disown him, he would still think of them as family.

wei wuxian has few fears in life. to lose his family to tragedy counts among the worst of them.]

Does the Mo family have associations with a cultivation sect? Perhaps we've crossed paths before.

Jiang Cheng is too well-mannered, you mean! He would have had way more fun if he stopped criticizing everything Nie-xiong and I—— you did back in the Cloud Recesses! ... Though I hear you had some good moments still.

[ it's too nostalgic a talk, and there's definitely some melancholy in his tone. he knows well jiang cheng was well-behaved because of the weight of his future, being sect leader and living a childhood where madam yu would judge his every action. wei wuxian was the one who could be lax, only a servant, but if he could still bring some smile and laughter to jiang cheng's life, then it would be enough. he had promised he would always be by his side, after all. funny how things turned out, huh. ]

Oh, we haven't at all. [ mo xuanyu was only a baby by this him's age. probably still with his mother at a brothel, being loved and cared for. he had yet to be labelled a lunatic, yet to have his life turn into an endless wave of suffering and torture. they have never met, but how could he not feel sympathy towards an innocent person who had such an unfortunate life, only then to give up his own body to him? ]

The Mo family has no cultivators. I'm an exception, but only because my father is one. But that has nothing to do why I know so much about you. Hmmm, I wanted to fool around for a bit, but now I just want to tell you the truth!

[ he's curious, okay! because this is certainly going to be as surprising and exciting to him as it'd be to his younger self! it's a rare opportunity, an once-in-a-lifetime occurrence that wei wuxian just doesn't know how he wants to deal with. ]

Do you not think there's something weird about me? You're so smart, yet you can't figure this out. Well, I guess you're still too young. Maybe I should give you a hint: we're way more similar than you think.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

▶ TDM .009

you are babie.. youre my babie.. youre me. but babie

i am indeed baby

THIS TWITTER VIDEO FGSDGKSDJG i love it

i was howling over it for like 10 minutes, i had to share

ITS SO GOOD I LOVE IT

<3 <3 <3

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