prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .009

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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

"You... what?"

Okay, so either he's lost it, or this place is a lot more complicated than she thought. And judging by his changed appearance, it's looking like the latter. She's not sure if she prefers that or not.

Time travel. Okay. Cool. Why not. Fairy tales are apparently real, she's destined to maybe lose who she is, and she and most of her friends have been transported to a different world. Why shouldn't time shenanigans be a thing?

But more on that mental breakdown later. She has a thousand questions. Is he sure? How far ahead is he? How was that even possible? How was any of this possible? Is he really sure? Did she become the Fall Maiden and was she able to still be her? Is he just messing with her? When was Ren from? Team RWBY? Was anyone else here? Ozpin, Qrow, Professor Goodwitch, anyone who might know what's going on or how to get back? Is he really, really sure?

There were many important questions to ask, but when she opens her mouth, it's none of those that comes out as her focus turns towards their held hands again, an edge of hope in her voice.

"In your time, are we...?"

"I know it sounds weird, I wasn't expecting it either, but Ren told me himself and I know he wasn't kidding around with me." If there was anybody Jaune would trust it was his team.

There were a lot of tough questions Jaune expected to answer, but Pyrrha managed to hit him with a curve ball. His expression was surprise mixed with grief. Of course she'd think that from how he was acting.

He didn't want to tell her the whole truth just out in the streets like this. Still he couldn't say nothing either. Jaune chose his words carefully "It's more complicated than that. We... have to be apart, but before you left you let me know how you feel."

Jaune's mind flashes back to that moment. The sudden realization followed by the grief of being pushed away from her.

"Come on, I have a lot to explain so we should go sit down." He hopes that's enough to hold her off until he can lead her to the park and find a place to sit down beneath a tree away from everyone else.

This time, Pyrrha can't hide the disappointed look. That... wasn't a yes. It wasn't a no either, but he only mentioned how she felt, not how he felt. He was letting her down gently. She wasn't surprised; he only ever had eyes for Weiss. But it still hurt, because just for that moment she thought she was going to have her happily ever after.

She blinks a few times in an effort to not cry. "I understand. I appreciate your honesty." She slowly extracts her hand from his, instantly missing the feel of him. She's sure he only has good intentions but keeping the contact would only make things worse. After wiping away a stray tear, she holds her arm with the opposing hand, a little more closed off than before. She's trying to pass off as fine, though the sorrow still practically radiates off of her.

After a brief pause to collect herself just a little bit, she gives a slight nod at his words, refusing to meet his eyes. "Lead the way."

It wasn't exactly subtle when Pyrrha pulled her hand away. He was quickly focused on every little bit of body language. Especially when it was clear he had missed so many signs before.

"Pyrrha..." He turned to look at her again. His reaction earnest and caring "That's not what I meant."

It was his turn to cup her cheek to draw her gaze up to him "We never got the chance to try. I just didn't want to give you the wrong idea of what happened between us. You told me how you felt and then you left. So I think it'd be a little unfair to say we were together when we never got the chance to go on a date."

Dancing around the fact that she was dead hurt too, but he was trying his best to make thing as easy as he could for Pyrrha. This was going to be a hard pill to swallow. How do you even tell someone that they're dead.

The second his hand is on her cheek, she stops breathing. She's suddenly hyperaware of everything and nothing at the same time. The touch is almost mesmerizing - her pupils must be huge- and it takes all of her willpower to not close the distance between them right now, but she manages to ground herself by focusing on his words.

"When I... Oh." Oh. She supposés that answers the question as to whether or not she went through with the Maiden thing, and it sounds like the cost was high. That was... Unfortunate. She can only hope she made a difference in doing so.

Wait, what was that last part? 'Never had the chance to.' She should know better than to get her hopes up, but it's a sadistic drug that she can't resist.

In a normal situation, the question shes about to ask would have been teasing, but here, in this strange atmosphere, it's serious. Cautious and anticipative. Promising and scared. Full of desire and full of despair. Her eyes are searching his, though she's not sure if she's scared of the answer that it might bring.

"Did you... Are you asking me on a date?"

While he'd been trying to keep his composure in the face of this serious situation he couldn't help but blush some as the question was directed to him.

There was so much to talk about and so much she needed to know, but Jaune decided that they could indulge in this one moment. Forget about everything else and act like her confession hadn't been just before she died.

"I... feel really dumb for not realizing how you felt," he began. As he spoke he took his hand off Pyrrha's cheek and instead held her hand in his own.

"But if you still want to go on a date with an oblivious guy like me," he knelt in front of her still holding her hand "I'd be really happy if you'd let me take you on a date sometime."

Jaune's blush doesn't hold a candle to Pyrrha's. Covering her hand with her mouth, a passerby would probably think she was just proposed to, which to Pyrrha? He might as well have. After a moment, she can't help but laugh at the positioning. At Jaune being so... Jaune. With all the strain and awkwardness, it was good to see her Jaune was still here.

For the first time since she arrived here, she feels free. Not a prison after all.

Still, she should say no. There's a lot going on she doesn't understand. There's apparently a lot they need to talk about. And she can't help but think that it would be cruel to go out with him when there's no future for them.
But maybe, just this once, she can have what she wants. She deserves some happiness before she loses everything, doesn't she? And what she wants is this lovable dork.

She smirks down at him, the slightest trace of mischief in her eye. "You, Jaune Arc, are oblivious. You're lacking in social grace, and you nearly failed history."

She gives a hard tug on his hand, forcing him off his knee and back into her arms, which she drapes around his neck. "You're also one of the most caring, pure-hearted, determined people I've ever met, and it would be my honor to go on a date with you."

It did seem cruel in a way. Especially given what he knows. Will she be okay with this after knowing the truth? Will it be more a cruel to her?

However when she pulls him into her arms and smile like that he can't help but think this must be a good thing.

His heart was thumping hard in his chest as he looked down at her with a bashful smile. "Then it's a date! Think about where you'd like to go. Whenever you want and we can make it happen. Lunatia's big and pretty much has anything you'd want here."

He wraps his arms around her middle in a warm embrace.

"There's a lot I have to tell you, and there's a lot you're not going to like, but I'm happy to have my partner back."

So this is most certainly a dream. It's the only way her brain could rationalize any of this, so it's what she's going with. Is it possible that this is all, in fact, real? Of course. Not likely, but possible. Does she want it to be real? Maybe. There are pros and cons to each. But this really seemed more like a dream, and that was before she was in Jaune's arms. And in her dreams she's allowed to be indulgent. And she's allowed to be his.

"I'm honestly fine with anything. Why don't you pick the place? You know Lunatia better than me." Really, she doesn't care so long as she's with him. And she might be curious to see what he comes up with for a date.

She's also curious as to what Jaune has to fill her in on, but she's fine letting that come out in time.

"And I'm happy to be here. As for whatever it is you need to tell me, it sounds like we have plenty of time. Should we wait for Ren for that?"

While Jaune couldn't read Pyrrha's mind he could see she was happy. Being like this, away from her worries at the time must be idyllic. No burdens on her shoulders for the moment.

He gave a nod "Okay, it can wait until after the date. Just expect Ren to have as big a reaction as I did" Jaune wasn't going to make Ren explain it, but he couldn't let that smile on her face fade so soon.

A smile spreads on Jaune's lips as he seems to settle on an idea "So I can't tell you everything, but there's at least one thing I can show you."

He grabbed her hand again though not moving any further away. "I figured out what my semblance is!" As he said that there was a white glow covering his and Pyrrha's hands.

"It's Aura Boosting. I can use my Aura to make someone else's stronger. Do you think you could give us a bird's eye view of Lunatia with me helping?" Since they were both wearing armor Jaune figured that Pyrrha could lift them both up.

Ren reacting as much as Jaune is a funny image, considering he tended to keep his reactions internal. She wants to make a joke that she hopes he's not going to ask her out too, but then Jaune mentions his semblance and Pyrrha's so excited for him - she knew that had been an insecurity for awhile. She always knew it would come and it was just a matter of when, so she's happy to see that she had been right.

Upon feeling the influx of aura, her eyes widen. "No wonder you have so much... Jaune, this is incredible!" The sensation was unlike any other, and she felt like she could do anything at that moment.

"It's possible," she considers. "My semblance is strong, though I normally wouldn't try lifting so much weight with so little metal. But with this..." she looks down at their hands, at the aura he's amplifying. "I can't guarantee how well it will go, but I can try. Tell me if it gets to be too much though, okay? I'm not sure how much strain this will put on you."

"Yeah it really worked out." He grins big, he's happy to be able to tell Pyrrha this and get praised by her. It was something he knew he wanted, but never thought he could have so he had just pushed it down.

"I'll let you know if I start running low, but we should be fine. Between Ren's semblance and mine we hid a whole train's worth of people from Grimm so I think we can at least get a sky view of the city."

He rubbed the back of his head nervously "I know I'm asking you to do the hard part, but hopefully you'll like the view?"

She can't help but blink in surprise at the team up with Ren. A whole train? That was... wow. That's some juice Jaune has. This might actually work.

"I think I'm going to have the easy part." Metal is her game. She can lift it without much thought. But amplifying her abilities? She's still more worried about the toll it will take on Jaune. He might have hid the train, but how drained was he after? She's going to have to keep a close eye on him to make sure he's not pushing himself too hard.

She takes his arms in her hands, securing herself to him. "When you're ready, hold on tight. I'd rather a firm grip in case we fall." That's the spirit!

((ooc: Since it's started getting captcha locked here let's use an overflow post: https://pyrrhic-paladin.dreamwidth.org/1299.html?thread=275#cmt275))

"I'm glad to see you have confidence in this Pyrrha," he said in a sarcastic, teasing tone.

Pyrrha was of course right that they should hold on tight to avoid as many complications as possible. So he would curl one of his arms around her, pulling her in close. She'd be able to feel the improved strength from his training he's had to do without her as he held her close to him.

"There I think you're as secure as you're going to get."

Edited 2019-11-26 09:08 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

▶ TDM .009

ha! You thought I went to sleep

Sneaky!

Wow what a literal rude awakening

and you call ME rude?

Hey, I never said I was nice!

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shit it's too cute I can't

Criminally cute!

only cute until she realizes hes seeing other people too oops

Oof yeah definitely going to put a damper on it.

C'est la vie

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