▶ TDM .009

[prismods]

Now whip it

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"Devo - Whip It (Video)" (Watch on YouTube)

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.

Comments

[moonlightalter]

[Interestingly, Atsushi doesn't seem to move at all in response to Leaks' magic. He should be stepping back, if only due to surprise from the sudden movement. But he's either confident enough in his own skill to not see Leaks as a threat, or he had a guess that Leaks wasn't going to attack him. It's hard to tell which answer is correct here.

When Leaks peers down, Atsushi simply holds the bag open for him so that he can see. He's not shy, he doesn't mind anyone peeking.]

It's a challenge, but I do try.

[And then, after a moment of thought, he adds a bit more.]

I have enough for two, if you were hungry?

[Introductions over dinner sounds nice to Atsushi. Maybe Leaks will agree to that too.

Atsushi's kindness seems to be a constant across all versions of Atsushi.]

[dissonyance]

( strange. he doesn't recoil, doesn't flinch. not that he'd want to do that to atsushi, but the expectations aren't being met. if anything, it's leaks that's now flinching albeit internally, and being slightly off-balance in that regard has him focus even harder.

there's something different. something that he has no experience in dealing with. it's making his tail twitch irritably, flicking from side-to-side like a confused and angry snake. )

... I am not hungry. ( but he's learned that being company is sometimes enough, and the invitation isn't necessarily just for eating. ) But I will join you nonetheless.

( leaks unconsciously reaches out, to hopefully touch atsushi's arm. )

Your name, please.

( manners are reserved for familiarity. maybe only for atsushi(s). )

[moonlightalter]

[Atsushi glances at that tail, noticing the way it flicks about. Fortunately he knows plenty about cats, so he can guess that Leaks is irritated about something. The irritation seems low, though, as he is carrying on with the conversation like everything is okay. Still, Atsushi decides to keep an eye out in case this conversation turns more dangerous.

But he's going to give Leaks the benefit of the doubt first. Leaks is new, maybe he just finds being in this new world to be irritating.]

I'd be happy to have you join me. We're neighbors, after all. I'm Atsushi.

[Leaks can touch Atsushi's arm, he won't pull away. This Atsushi is skinnier than the Atsushi Leaks would remember, though. It's like he was half-starved at one point and is only starting to recover.]

[dissonyance]

( he can remember the scars. the anxiousness, the look on atsushi's face. it's vivid and still clear in leaks' mind. it paralyzes him for a moment, as he continues to stare at this atsushi's face and he wonders, if just for a second, if he's the same one. there are similarities for sure, but the differences as subtle as they are, distort the image in front of him.

he does miss atsushi and these circumstances are much better than their previous ones... )

I am Leaks. It is good to see you.

( he also doesn't plan to let go, even going so far as to walk out of his empty 'library'. )

[moonlightalter]

[You know, if Atsushi hadn't gone through this same situation over a dozen times already, he might not have recognized the signs. But something about the way Leaks acts and the words he speaks, they strike something within him. Somehow, he just Knows. Just like how he knew for Ranpo, or Kunikida, or any of the others once he had seen the second Atsushi with his own eyes.]

You know another 'me', don't you?

[It's not an accusation, just a stated fact. Atsushi isn't one to be too judgemental anyway, even if he's slightly disappointed by this turn of events.]

[dissonyance]

( he doesn't blink, doesn't flinch. he's a smart one, this atsushi--- for all the differences that are before his eyes, the similarities are what makes him feel oddly comfortable and unfazed by the question. he would be inclined to be more physical than just a gentle hold, maybe even give the boy a hug... )

I only know one Atsushi. ( leaks sighs, closing his eyes. ) However you are not him, which means if I were to become familiar with you, I would know two.

( and he smiles to himself, albeit very thinly. )

Though, who knows if the Atsushi I know is here as well? I have learned that I cannot take the familiar as intimate.

( then that smile fades. )

If you knew who I was, then it would be proof. But you do not.

[moonlightalter]

There is another Atsushi here.

[Two more, actually, but the third doesn't look anything like him and probably isn't the one Leaks is thinking of. So Atsushi will leave him out of the conversation here.]

He might be the one you know, he might not. But regardless, I don't mind getting to know you and becoming your friend. If you and another version of me got along, then I'm sure we will as well.

[He's inclined to treat this like a new 'hello' rather than forcing Leaks to dwell on the past. It seems painful, given Leaks' reactions.

This is why Atsushi offers a hand out to Leaks. Moonlacing feels nice, so maybe holding hands will help calm him down a bit.]

What do you say?

[dissonyance]

You have a lot of faith in yourself, as well in me--- a complete stranger.

( it gives him a little hope, but it also does beg the question: if this atsushi is different, and there is another atsushi that resembles the one he knows, would that one know him? or perhaps it is just one of those odd quirks that comes with being in different worlds and universes. perhaps the one that he had particular interest in may never come back to him.

this sobering thought forces a frown.

but he won't let atsushi's hand go empty for long. leaks is eager to take it and immediately pull him forward. )

I cannot promise much, but I will do my best. Speaking of which--- we should not let your groceries stay out in the open. Some might be perishable, yes?

[moonlightalter]

Some version of me had faith in you before, it sounds like. I think I can trust the judgement of another me.

[He has a love-hate relationship with himself, but he can trust that he can befriend kind people at least. It helps that Leaks hasn't given him a reason to believe anything else but that.]

Oh, yes! If you don't mind, can I use your kitchen?

[dissonyance]

( it's naivety, pure and simple. there's something unsettling about accepting someone who could easily take your place. but leaks might've considered this willingness to coexist as a part of naievty to be a weakness a long time ago, before the events of yoshiwara, but right now...?

it's still a weakness albeit it fits some people well and he shouldn't judge atsushi for it. )

Then, I will trust your judgement in kind. And of course you can use my kitchen... I do not find myself having a reason for one, other than it being a standard feature.

( but maybe he can make his tea in it, so. that's probably okay. )