▶ 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

[spacecomplaints]

The doll was his primary concern, because it was giving him the creeps. But hot coffee on his toes was a distraction at least.

Leonard let go of Qrow and hopped backwards, shaking off one foot, then the other, peering at Qrow. "Not again?" he repeated. "Not again about the coffee, or about the doll. Because if the damn dolls are a common occurrence, I want to know that going in."

He grunted a little, looking at the coffee-soaked shoes. "Sorry about that," Leonard managed to remember to say, if belatedly, glancing over his shoulder at the doll again.

[badluckblues]

"Doll?" Qrow echoed, while shaking coffee off his hand. It was evident that he'd only been half-listening, but upon following Leonard's gaze (and a bit of mental backtracking), Qrow finally understood what this was all about.

The doll was innocuous enough, if creepy in appearance. Qrow was a very poor judge of that, however - dolls being totally foreign territory to him. Despite having helped raise two adorable and arguably very feminine nieces, the girls were always more into weapons than playing house.

After handwaving away Leonard's apology - really, good chance it's not even Leonard's fault - Qrow's eyes narrowed towards the doll. Nothing happened. However, if Leonard - a grown-ass man - was that disturbed, it was worth a moment of investigation.

"Well, we had moving graveyard statues a few weeks back. That was weird." Qrow shrugged. He seemed surprisingly blase about it, considering. "It's following you, you say?"

[spacecomplaints]

"Yeah," Leonard said. "Creepy. Pink. Looks like it's cute enough it might murder you with its eyes. Never trust anything too cute. Its always got a plan." It was an exaggeration, but not by that much, in his estimation.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Moving grave statues," Leonard muttered. "Fantastic." That would make trips to visit grandpa and grandma interesting, he imagined. This must be a whole planet full of traumatized kids. Or they were just used to it. Considering some of the other things he'd learned so far, the kids must just be pretty good at not seeing what they didn't want to see.

"The guy selling them pushed the thing into my hands, and I put it back, but it's like its been tailing me ever since," Leonard admitted. "The reasonable explanation is someone's just carrying it and propping it behind me when I spot it. But I swear I've seen it move and I'm about to go nuts and just break a doll in half and throw it in the trash, so I'm looking for a little reinforcement here to tell me I'm not entirely crazy."

[badluckblues]

Qrow nodded along to Leonard's rambling, his expression gravely serious (and only half just bullshitting along with a potentially crazy man). Don't trust cuteness, it might kill you with the eyeballs - Leonard couldn't possibly know it, but Qrow happened to come from a planet where that actually checked out.

Still, the situation described sounded pretty out there, even for the creepiest and pinkest of dolls. No wonder the poor guy was rattled. Qrow sighed, rubbing at the back of his head in thought as he wondered how to break this to Leonard gently...

"Listen, you're probably not crazy. Weirder shit happens around here. I just can't promise you that's good news."

[spacecomplaints]

Cute came with the potential for lethality, that was just a damn fact. The cuter it was, the less likely people were to see death coming for them. That probably was true of all worlds, Leonard figured.

Even with that solid belief, Leonard still hadn't really wanted to have it confirmed. He grimaced. "Great," he said, deadpan. "I'm not crazy, I just ended up in Oz. Again. I'm guessing clicking my heels isn't going to do anything for me." He waved a hand. "Nevermind. Earth reference. Okay just ... watch it a second for me? See if you see it move?" he asked. "Do me a favor? I'll owe you one."

[badluckblues]

Leonard was met with an interesting chain of reactions - briefly widened eyes at the mention of 'Oz,' and then an increasingly uncomprehending, increasingly impatient stare as he continued to leave Qrow in the metaphorical dust. It's only until Leonard mentioned Earth that Qrow finally nodded (complete with a subtle roll of his eyes). "Ah, yeah. Earth. I've heard of it."

Multi-universe thing took some getting used to.

Qrow set a hand on his hip, looked at the doll, and then back to Leonard. He shrugged. "Sure, pal. Do your thing."

...he said, while absolutely certain that nothing would happen, so long as that creepy toy was being watched.

[spacecomplaints]

"Most people have," Leonard said. Usually they either loved it or hated it. Earth didn't get a lot of in between opinions. It hadn't even in the other dimension.

Leonard had the distinct impression he was being placated. Which was irritating. But he couldn't blame the man. From his perspective, he'd just been accosted by a crazy man ranting about a doll in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Thanks," he said, trying not to sound irate. He knew it tended to be his default. "Leonard Bones, by the way. Since I didn't get around to the introducing part." He gave the doll a last long look, marking its location, and then walked away, giving it glances over his shoulder and then vanishing around the corner. He walked around the next building and then came back. To him, it looked like the thing was still where he'd left it. "Well?" he asked.