▶ 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

whip it good - a

[koket]

[ When you live in a world dominated solely by anthropomorphic animals, it takes a lot to process being tossed into a city full of hairless individuals with smooshed in faces. God, everyone here is so ugly. Some at least seem to have certain defining qualities that make them stand out from others, those he steadily learns must be females, making the others male (but even that he's not 100% sure of), but otherwise it makes a lot of zero sense to him. And it's not his responsibility to understand. The place is crowded, it's very noisy, and he'd like some peace and quiet to brush his wool after being poked and proded by those creatures that called themselves "Prismals".

Pina is making himself right at home in the first apartment he finds. He doesn't need anything fancy, just to locate the bathroom and hope it's stocked with a brush. That's when he hears the loud stomping of feet, a clatter of heavy weight. His ears flick as he goes to find the source.

Only to see this huge half horse thing standing in the doorway speaking to him. ]

What's a "human"?

[ Also good sir or madam what is wrong with you what is he looking at??? ]

[dietary]

[ While Mikuni might not sing the praises of humans either, he isn't really expecting to run into ... well. This. Also, pardon you but that "heavy weight" is beautiful. A creature who has done nothing wrong in his entire life.

Anyway, he tilts his head, curious both at the manner of being he sees in front of him, and at the question.

How do you just not know what a human is? Even if they do not exist in worlds where sheep walk and talk like people do, they're all over this place aren't they? They had arrived with a whole bunch! ]

The hairless, two-legged individuals that occupy much of this land.

[ Don't say that his top half resembles one because he might actually get offended. ]

[koket]

[ There is a very silent, almost judging sort of stare as Pina looks the half-horse half... something else, intently, up and down. If he's a hybrid, then he's the most bizarre hybrid he's ever seen. But his upper half is certainly pretty. If it weren't for the scent of male Pina can pinpoint, he'd probably mistake him as female.

Humans, huh... two legs, hairless. All those strange creatures Pina had been watching as he left the moonport. He'd just thought he was in a world full of very skinny hairless pigs. ]

Hmm... those were all humans then, huh? [ He's not sure if he believes it, but any answer would be better than none at this point. And really, what other explanation is there? But that still leaves one question. ] So you're a human-horse hybrid I assume?

[dietary]

[ Mikuni doesn't seem to notice the judgmental stare. Or, if he does, he doesn't care at all. He's just smiling calmly like this is the most usual interaction in the world. Honestly he would have been used to being mistaken for a woman as well, if things had gone that way. Even harder to tell, without scent, when he's wearing proper horsepants.

But anyway, he nods a bit. ]

Yes. Or at least, that is what humans look like.

[ He's heard that there are non-humans here who happen to look human? Hasn't met any as of yet but they supposedly exist. Nevertheless, his comments still stand. This place was clearly built for them and not jinba.

Speaking of, he does manage to look a bit offended now. Or, if not offended, just eerily intense, like he might snap any second out of nowhere. ]

I am a jinba. Although we sometimes cohabit, we are not the same.

[koket]

[ Oh... he thinks he said something bad. He blinks curiously but then lets himself brush off the very intense stare with a shrug while running fingers through his wool, trying to act completely unphased. Nothing wrong here, just trying to untangle a knot that definitely wasn't even there. ]

Well, I guess if I was to have a roommate, I'd much rather have someone like you than a human. [ Pina says the word almost like something that wanders into the back of your mind, nothing of importance, a nuisance even. ] Even if I've never heard of your kind before, we're already almost like distant relatives! Oh, my name is Pina by the way. I'm a dall sheep.

[dietary]

[ He'll forgive him, the first time. Fascinating how he tends to his wool like that. Would he also shear it off and make a sweater out of it? ]

I am not sure if I even fit into this house properly.

[ He looks behind him, at his lower half and shakes his head. There's a lot of furniture and stuff in the way here. Not even jinba furniture... ]

I have never met a "dall sheep" either. Not one that could walk and talk as you do. Is that very common where you come from?

[ He smiles simply and then-- right. An introduction on his end is probably in order. ] I am Mikuni.