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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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Kureno shifts his weight when someone drops down beside him on the bench, making what room he could without putting in the effort of moving very much. The question catches him off guard though, and that's whe he turns to look at the guy, dark eyes narrowing thoughtfully before responding.]

It's not an illusion, if that's what you're asking.

[No, they were very much actually stuck here, and Kureno had already resigned himself to that information, for whatever it mattered.]

[ Wow, there sure are two guys squinting suspiciously at each other on this bench. If there's anyone nearby, they're probably shuffling away.

But before he can squint with even more suspicion, Genya turns his gaze down to his hands. Staring at his palms, the dark calluses and scars embedded into them, and knowing that what he's looking at is real. Just as real the expanse of city and people behind them. Damn it. ]

That sucks.

[ Putting it lightly. At least an illusion would be fake; this being real just ... sucks. Really fucking sucks. ]

[He's not all that bothered, he's certainly not concerned with anyone giving them a wide breadth of space due to any imagined hostility between them, but Kureno's face? His expressions aren't always the easiest to read, so a narrowing of eyes might very well suggest animosity when he's not even trying. Especially once you get him lost in thought.

When Genya moves his gaze to his own hands, Kureno glances back forwrd, taking in the people and environment around them, possibly oblivious to anyone rushing away from this particular bench for no apparent reason. This does lend his expression to a more sour grimace, sympathetically.]

You have something to get back to at home?

[An obligation or goal, perhaps. Kureno's seen enough people unhappy with being here, but for the most part everyone else seems to be taking it in stride. He's lived hundreds of years - long enough to learn that his only option was adapting to the situation and there was little to mourn over losing here, for him. That's not necessarily so for others, though.]

Or- someone?

[ Silence stretches on for a long moment as Genya frowns, deepening the furrow of his face. A face that's naturally intimidates people, though he's thinking much softer thoughts than anyone might expect.

Something to get back to at home, someone ... only hammers in the fact that this is real, and how much it sucks.

Not that he's going to give up. Tch, he's done too much to give up, and he doesn't consider it for even a moment.

Back to square one. That's what it is, isn't it? ]

That's...

[ Wait a gosh darned second. ]

None'a your business.

[ Gruff, as he slides back into his squinty eyed stare. But that's pretty normal for him, too. ]

I don't even know you.

[ Or anyone here.

But then, he follows up, in a short huff: ]

Either way, being stuck somewhere you don't wanna be sucks.

[The silence stretches between them and Kureno turns to study the guy sitting beside him - taking note of his scarred and weathered appearance more than the expression - when he finally speaks again.

Only, he doesn't get very far before switching gears and becoming defensive? of his situation instead. Kureno merely shrugs lanky shoulders at that response, leaning back against the bench and glancing skyward, Genya started the discussion.]

Usually the 'wanting or not wanting to' comes from a desire to be somewhere else, which normally has a reason behind it.

[In other words: it was just a guess. He was only making conversation though, trying to empathize with the guy's plight, he was never really good at understanding humans and that seemed to be mostly what he was bumping into in this place, If they weren't human, they seemed to at least follow similar ways of relating to the world around them and each other. He wasn't exactly sure how to get across that he meant no offense.]

I have someone important to me, I've known her since before she was born. Where I am doesn't matter as long as she's with me, that's all. She has an obligation back home, where she is ... or isn't... matters. I just thought- maybe you could relate to one of those things.

For some, being anywhere else would seem like a dream rather than a nightmare. Location only really makes a difference when you have a home to go back to, and now you know more about me than you probably wanted to.

[Genya's probably wishing he picked someone else to sit next to, but Kureno doesn't mind all that much, he wouldn't be surprised if the guy up and walked away right now.]

You're right, I do.

[ But he doesn't really sound offended, or, surprisingly, annoyed. He had been the one to ask, and what the guy does admit, he understands to an extent. A few points he maybe doesn't agree with, but does it really mattered? This is still real, and they're still all stuck here either way. Maybe it's good for some people, but he's not one of them.

Only, Genya isn't so great at the talking, especially with people he doesn't know—he just falls into the shrug of his shoulders, eyes ahead on the crowd, but not really watching them.

The silence doesn't last long, however. His eventual follow-up is gruff but seemingly earnest: ]

So? Is she here, or not?

[ Since he does know more about a literal stranger than he wants to, might as well ask. ]

[The question surprises him when it comes and Kureno hums thoughtfully, before speaking.]

Why do you care?

[He'd already made it clear that he'd heard too much about him with what little he'd already shared, asking for more detail only perplexed him. The question wasn't accusatory in the least, it was curious, confused. Like a child that didn't understand a concept that might be common sense to most adults. Why was this guy bothering to ask for more information? It didn't stop him from answering though, perhaps quickly enough that there was little room for Genya to respond to his question in the first place.]

She is.

[Short, and to the point.]

She's been here for awhile...

[He doesn't elaborate further than that, figuring that the guy would not be soothed by the idea that when you disappear from home no one even notices you're missing.]

▶ TDM .009

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