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
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...Oh. That is good to know. What can make big kinds of moonlacing?

[This whole chroma thing is still new to him, so Lucifer wants to learn as much as possible about it.]

Maybe they're special. Is there anything that has happened recently that did not happen before?

[Ah, the age-old question. Ren spreads his hands as if forming a scale, and proceeds with all apparent innocence.] Well, moonlacing gets more effective the more intimate something gets, so hand-holding and hugging give the smallest amount. After that, it gets into things like kissing and the kinds of things people do behind closed doors...

[Ren's pretending to be delicate and pure about the topic despite the fact that he has not been remotely shy about advancing to higher tiers of moonlacing with sufficiently interesting people. Which, gladly, there's no shortage of here.]

Something weird happens about every month here, but we had a bunch of angry spirits come back last month. Maybe some nice spirits showed up to balance things out.

Oh... [People do things behind closed doors? What does that mean?] What things do you mean?

[Ok so this place is weird in every sense.]

Interesting.

[Ren's talked to a few angels here, and while some have observed humans enough to know their weird proclivities, he knows Sandalphon hadn't had the best grasp on that either. So he supposes it makes sense that Lucifer doesn't either.

He taps his chin thoughtfully, like he's trying to figure out how to explain. Though he might be kind of letting slip that this isn't the first time he's met (a) Lucifer.] I'm guessing if you're asking that question, nobody's ever told you what sex is...it's one of those things that's weird to explain to people who aren't human, there's all sorts here...

[Somehow it's not even the worst thing he's had to explain to a non-human.]

Sex, you say... Could I research it on my own?

[He's curious, specially because it's something that shouldn't be shown to others it seems.]

Well, you could, but it might be a little...confronting? Or maybe that's not the right word...

[Ren taps his chin a little, like he's trying to figure out a way to explain it better. For something so "confronting", he doesn't seem all that concerned about discussing it.] I suppose I should probably ask whether you've seen humans naked before, because that might make it easier to explain.

[He's not going to assume, since he's heard of worlds where angels remain extremely detached from humanity at large.]

I have.

[In one or two occasions, it was a very interesting view too.]

[That does make it slightly easier, and Ren lets out a puff like he's a bit relieved.] Well, sex is what humans do to reproduce, so it's kind of personal and messy, but people do it for enjoyment as well when there's no risk of reproducing. So if you go researching it you're probably going to find some pretty wild stuff besides just the naked people, since humans can get pretty creative about indulging themselves.

[Very, very creative.]

Humans do tend to get creative when trying to find enjoyment, that is true.

[Still, it's easy to understand, somehow.]

So it's needed to have at least two people for this activity?

Well, technically it's called something else when one person is pleasuring themselves, and it's not nearly as fun. [As far as Ren is concerned, at least. He doesn't generally bother with the solo act.] So if someone is saying sex specifically, then it's almost definitely two or more people.

[It might usually be two, but Ren doubts there's not people doing it with more than two on a planet like this.]

Oh, understood.

[He still will look it up though.]

Anyway, you'll probably need to know about it if you're here for any length of time, I just figured I'd warn you before you went off looking it up.

[Ren waves a hand a bit vaguely. It's standard knowledge for humans, but he's had to explain some bizarre things to non-humans, who didn't always take it well.]

Thank you, for your teachings.

[Lucifer looks at the little monsters, who look like they're bored, and bends down to put them down on the ground. They look around, and laugh happily, before going to chase a butterfly.]

Is it possible for me to contact you, at a later time, for some coffee?

[Ren definitely has one cafe in mind when he mentions that, and he nods along quite happily.]

Sure, that's fine with me. As long as it's good coffee~ [He has every reason to believe it will be considering what he knows from Sandalphon, but that'd be a bit weird to explain at this juncture. Though, on that note...] Oh, right. I'm Suzugamori Ren, but just call me Ren.

I have been told I make a decent coffee brewer.

[He smiles, and nods.]

It is a pleasure to meet you, Ren. My name is Lucifer.

[And here's where Ren can show his hand a bit, though he proffers a face of dawning, cheery recognition rather than the actual fact that he already knew who Lucifer was.]

Oh, hang on, Lucifer as in Sandalphon's friend...? He's the only other angel I know who's that good with coffee, and he mentions your name sometimes.

[Ren swings by Sandalphon's cafe with some regularity, and he's known the other man for a while, so it's a truthful statement.]

You know Sandalphon?

[He smiles softly, at Ren;s words, because Sandalphon mentions him?]

He is indeed very good with coffee. I did not know he mentioned me before.

Just once or twice, when it came up. He seems to respect you a lot.

[Ignoring the fact that Ren and Sandalphon once had a deep and meaningful about the complexities of how he felt about Lucifer, though that was some time ago now.]

He promised to let me try his coffee not long after we met, so I was glad when he got around to opening his cafe here.

He does?

[That's... That's news to him.]

His coffee is good, I'm glad you were able to try it.

Do you not talk about this sort of thing much...? [It had felt somewhat blatant to Ren even when they were just on the topic of Sandalphon as a person, so he blinks a bit like he's surprised Lucifer wasn't aware.

Then again, he's run into people from wildly different points in time with wildly different opinions on each other accordingly, so he's not going to question it too much.] It is good, I was pretty impressed that he'd been making it for so long. I guess immortals need something to do, but I feel like "making coffee" wouldn't be that common a choice to fill all that time.

Ah... Not in these many words, no.

[Lucifer smiles softly at that. He remembers Sandalphon making coffee, waiting for him, and it makes him ache in weird ways.]

Coffee can always be improved, and it is a relaxing pastime.

[Well, that seems fair enough to Ren, given how Sandalphon can sometimes be. It took those weird honesty springs to get them particularly talking about anything to do with Sandalphon's home.]

That's true. I was saying to him once that it's hard to think someone is properly passionate about something if they're not continually improving themselves at it, so it's nice to see him work at that.

[It's not so much the territory Ren is used to seeing that kind of dedication in, but that's just a result of him not paying quite so much attention to that industry back home. Other than being a coffee snob himself.]

[Lucifer smiles sadly, thinking about all the times he would make Sandalphon wait for him, with coffee.]

He can be stubborn, but he is good, the best actually.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

▶ TDM .009

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