▶ 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

[purport]

[ Nearly dropping the package he'd just picked up, Sandalphon sputters. Of all the things to ask- but then, perhaps his own question had been equally absurd. Even so, it did feel proper and necessary to ask.

In this world, Lucifer should be free to do as he wishes. ]

Why wouldn't I be? [ That's...just what Lucifer asked him, isn't it? ] I value no presence so much as your own.

[ He admits this quietly, by way of indicating that Lucifer is more than welcome to share the space with him, and busies himself with picking up. ]

[avert]

...Just needed to make sure.

[Specially because, well, he had left Sandalphon stuck in a cradle and then died off somewhere. He's not entirely sure Sandalphon remembers their last interaction.

He smiles sadly at the thought, but changes his demeanour to something more... Appropriate, and picks up whatever is laying close to him.]

Where do you live?

[purport]

[ The question prompts him to turn, pointing out a door just down the hall. ]

Right there, actually. It was fortuitous that I should cross paths with you here.

[ How puzzled might Lucifer have been, if a locked door had opened at his touch? He holds no illusions that he'll avoid explaining for long, but for now, he hopes to keep things simpler for Lucifer. ]

[avert]

I would have gotten to that door then, eventually, in my wandering.

[He looks at the already picked up groceries on Sandalphon's arms, and nods.]

Should I help you with that, since we will be living together from now on?

[purport]

That isn't really...

[ It's not very much, the weight insignificant to a Primarch. And yet Sandalphon catches himself. He knows, and has seen several times over, that Lucifer has a liking toward these everyday moments which he'd so long been denied.

That thought compels him, after some hesitance, to offer the bag to Lucifer. ]

If you're certain I wouldn't be imposing.

[avert]

[Oh? That's a strange change, but he won't comment on it.]

Not at all. I don't imagine you imposing on me at all.

[purport]

Do you think me incapable?

[ Sandalphon can only wonder, considering the way the Iris moon makes him overly demonstrative, whether Lucifer will change his mind about that. But just as he did before, he'll explain that situation, and endeavor not to invade his personal space overmuch.

Not that he'd seemed to mind during past stints in this world, but even so... ]

I hope you will find the apartment to your liking.

[ He gestures toward the apartment's door down the hall, that they might proceed. ]

[avert]

Why do you ask as such?

[Did he do something wrong is saying what he did?]

Thank you.

[He walks towards the door, and looks at Sandalphon for him to open it.]

[purport]

It's something I will have to explain, once you're settled in.

[ As they arrive at the door, he debates whether to tell Lucifer it will open for him. But this too should come in its own time, and he doesn't wish to inundate Lucifer with so much at once.

So he opens the door, stepping aside so Lucifer may enter first. ]

There is much I should explain, regarding this world. I've beem here for some time now.

[avert]

Alright.

[Lucifer nods, taking the necessary steps to be inside the room, and leave space for Sandalphon to come in.

He looks around, the place feeling comfortable enough for them to live in.]

You have a beautiful apartment, Sandalphon.

[purport]

I'm pleased you think so.

[ He replies, stepping into the apartment and closing the door behind him. Of course, he realizes the apartment is a reflection of their tastes, having furnished it together.

Once again, however, Lucifer doesn't remember. ]

I imagine you'll recognize the plants.

[ They're only young plants, full in leaves and little else, but he has no doubt that Lucifer will know primordial coffee seedlings for what they are. ]

[avert]

[The place feels comfortable, simple but accommodating, and Lucifer feels welcomed here.

As if Sandalphon knew he was coming.]

How did you get them?

[He walks towards one of the plants, touching one of the leafs, feeling the softness of it.]

That reminds me... I brought some beans with me, they should be with the person that helped me in, downstairs. Do you mind if I get them?

[purport]

[ Of course Lucifer wouldn't know. Twice now, he's told him, and Sandalphon must wonder whether he'll tell him again after this occasion.

This world seems quite fond of sending Lucifer home and pulling him back again. ]

When I was drawn here, I arrived with beans from the primordial coffee tree.

[ The very same one Lucifer had bestowed upon the skies so very long ago. ]

Do you need assistance with your belongings?

[avert]

That's a really good thing to bring with you, for sure.

[He shakes his head.]

No need to worry, I can doit myself.

[purport]

I don't know if I brought it with me, so much as it came along for the ride somehow.

[ Unprepared as he was for all this, he counts himself lucky that something so meaningful and familiar had happened to make this bizarre trip with him. ]

If you're certain... I will prepare coffee, then.

[avert]

I see.

[Maybe that means the same thing happened with Lucifer; he had been holding the bags when he lost consciousness, so maybe they just came with him due to that.

He smiles, nodding.]

Please do so, I will be back shortly.

[purport]

[ Hesitation seizes him then, the words heavy on his tongue, but... Despite the weight of significance the words bear between them, it's the appropriate response, isn't it?

And so, softly, he responds. ]

I'll be waiting.