prismaticrap | ▶ TDM OVERFLOW .001

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▶ TDM OVERFLOW .001

Cybernetic dream, something like you've never seen

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▶ Lisa Frank's LSD Fun House
anytime, anywhere on the moon Iris | top

Everything is darkness except for dim lights sparkling in the distance, a faint gleam that greets you as you start to unfurl from your dormant state. 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. Throat parched and skin dry and aching, you grope your body in alarm to make sure your possessions are still in place. 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 only rewards you with 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.

A ⬤ As you traverse the near-barren landscape, you feel something sting your skin. It's small and subtle at first, then you finally catch sight of it: an elegant, crystalline mosquito buzzing around from the corner of your eye. However, a pest is still a pest. After a while, marks near your welts begin to form strange patterns on your skin, mimicking ancient runes. Each rune has with it a particular side-effect that may hinder you on your journey:
✾ The Mark of the Enchanter: Hallucinations, hallucinations galore. Your character will see everything and anything their imagination can conjure and will have difficulty separating reality from fiction.
₪ The Mark of the Destroyer: Limbs start to cease their function, causing you to stumble or try and get around one-handed. Other certain body parts may be affected as well. Look at the bright side: you can stop worrying about jiggle physics and hiding your fear boner.
⍢ The Mark of the Sinner: Your hunger, your thirst, your fatigue and your desire are at an all-time high. Your impulses are rabid and uncontrollable. Maybe you experience only one of those symptoms. Maybe you experience them all. All you know is that you want relief now.

These effects will eventually clear up with a bit of accidental or purposeful physical contact with another person, making you wonder if there was anything wrong with you at all.

B ⬤ Hunger starts to gnaw at you vigorously. Perhaps you consider hunting the moon's creatures to sate your hunger. That's when you see it: a thick, meaty, juicy meal on legs. ~~No, we're not talking about Alex Louis Armstrong~~. A wild silver-white pegasus runs across the purple landscape, its hair billowing in the wind as its hooves smack loudly against the ground. Try and shoot it, and you may find your efforts curtailed by its legendary rage. Eyes aglow and wings beating up a storm, this pegasus is no dainty horse. Two thousand pounds of pure muscle swoop down and charge at you, all blades and ammunition deflecting off its impenetrable skin. Taming appears impossible; it will buck anyone away and leave a sizable horn- or hoof-shaped hole in them for their efforts. Hunting it, however, should be easier. Relatively.

C ⬤ Or you may decide that you'd like to take a drink in the prismatic waters. A small pond can be found just a few miles away from where you first awoke, but gazing into it reflects what appears to be a window into your own world. You see the faces of loved ones or at least someone very close and familiar to you gathered around your prone body, shaking it frantically as though to try and rouse you, yet your image lies frozen and unresponsive, not even a whisper of life running through you. Did you die in your world? Is this your afterlife? The questions start to pile up along with the gnawing dread that you may never return home again.

▶ Camp Nowhere
anytime, anywhere on the moon iris | top

Time moves strangely when you're trapped on a moon with no sun to guide you. Hours feel like days, and days feel like weeks. Travelling has rendered you weak and tired. Luckily, a few crystal formations in the shape of a cavern may offer you a small place refuge as you decide to nap. You notice a few artifacts left over from previous explorers.

D ⬤ A comm unit abandoned within the cavern will display the former owner's idol obsession. As you tap the buttons indiscriminately, a holographic screen will appear, and you will see a fabulous recorded concert featuring three bubbly young ladies in animal print, singing to you about something called Cordis, a cat, and a bag of gems. Does this make any sense to you? Probably not, but the beat is catchy. You may even find yourself tapping a foot along to it. Don’t worry. We know it’s plastic love.

E ⬤ There's a small cooler-like container of preserved powdered food bags labeled with only the word “Edible” that can be safely consumed. Although the powder tastes as bland as you’d expect, it’s oddly filling, sating either hunger or thirst. But who will be the first — and the bravest — to try eating them?

F ⬤ A strange, pointed instrument is among the effects found in the cavern. It's silver, long, and thin with a curved end and a light. When you grip it with warm hands, it seems to vibrate enthusiastically and comes in three settings indicated by a frowny face, a neutral face, and a happy face. What could it mean exactly? No one knows, but you can fiddle with it to your heart's desire. Just don't ask yourself where it's been before. You don't want to know.

▶ Interstellar Action Force Assemble
prisma, iris | top

Over a day has passed when a group of people find you worse for wear. Some are full of uncertainty and fear while some are full of curiosity and excitement. They claim that they are scientists from the planet Prismatica here to investigate the sudden appearances of rainbow crystals in the skies. That means you and the others they’ve located within the area. You are all a surprising find to them, and they are quick to load everyone in their transport vehicles for examination and questioning.

You all may have your usual inquiries — Where are we? Who are you? What's going on? Why are the pegasi so ill-tempered? — and the Prismals are almost too eager to answer. They do have questions on their own, so it’s only fair to trade. They tell you about their world as they poke and prod you, trying to understand what you are and how you came into their land. If they’re not trembling in fear, some of them may ask you odd and invasive questions in return, such as what the rate at which your body achieves thermoregulation is, how long your refractory period is, and if you would be willing to submit various kinds of body fluids to them. It's up to whether you wish to comply or protest.

G ⬤ If you react violently, you will be restrained and nerfed with a specialized neurotransmitting gun that releases a numbing agent through the top of your spine. They came prepared, so have fun with that! In any case, conscious or not, you’ll be brought into one of the transport vehicles. If you choose to peacefully cooperate, you’ll be provided any necessary first aid and a refreshing drink to help you recuperate after the rough time you had for the past few days. Each transport vehicle has a few small rooms to rest in, but due to the limited space, you’ll have to snuggle up with someone else on that bunk bed. Unfortunately, the moonshine fruit the ship is also carrying in its cargo has an extremely sweet smell that’s been permeating through certain areas of the ventilation system… Taking a whiff of it may inebriate you for the rest of the trip.

H ⬤ It’s a bumpy ride as terrain vehicles draw over various crystal formations until you see a large dome-like structure up ahead. Within its confines lies the seat of the Prismatica's government, Prisma. It’s a bureaucratic wet dream: skyscrapers practically touch the upper surface of the dome, windows glimmer with a prismatic sheen as daylight hits them, and small ships can be seen flying to and from its spaceport. The scientists, members of the Lunar Scientia, usher you into their facilities for tests. Arrivals are likely to twitch, tremble, and panic as Lunar Scientia fellows take and broadcast every embarrassing, unfiltered detail about you — height, weight, age, strange odors, estimated frequency of sexual activity —- to one another. These scientists will ask you politely to undress, too, but understand if you don't want to. They're especially fascinated by the readings of pure Chroma inside you, whispering among one another excitedly about the possibility of the new arrivals being a new moon species. What should they call them? Moonborne? Moonblessed?

I ⬤ At long last, the questions and physical examinations are done. They’ve decided to call the arrivals as the Moonblessed. They’ll take you under their care until they understand more about you. You're allowed a very refreshing hot shower and a warm meal for your efforts. Don’t worry, the meal was imported from their planet. “Planet?” you might ask, but you won’t need to wonder for too long. The ships are preparing for their next destination: the nearby planet Prismatica, where you will be dwelling for the time being. You're free to explore the government center until then.

▶ Wildcard
Lunatia, Prismatica | top

It only takes a couple hours for the ships to reach their home planet. The ships drop the characters off at the city of Lunatia, where they will be given their communication devices and a plastic card they can present to certain landlords at any residential district for their subsidized (read: absolutely free) lodging. Officials at Prisma instructed the newcomers to await further instructions from the government, but you have a lot of time to kill before then. Why not explore in the meantime? Learn the ins and outs of the world, get a job, transform under the full moon, and explore the many mysteries of planet Prismatica!

This is this TDM's overflow. Feel free to move your threads from there and continue tagging!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Continued here]

[Spirits are funny things, the Chirithy especially. They're smart creatures, and affectionate to those they belong to, naturally. Riku might not realize it, but the Chirithy has brought him before Invi, though unlike it's other meddling, it doesn't disappear immediately, instead giving a cautious sniff in Riku's direction.

He's like a Spirit, but not. Still, even though it doesn't disappear right away, it does use Invi as a barrier between them.]

He's the one, Master Invi! [It's voice is quiet as she regards him, and the balance of his heart, which hangs so neatly between Darkness and Light that it's... it feels dangerous, to her, who doesn't know any better.]

You're an interesting one. [Her words are guarded, but not wholly unfriendly. Not yet, and it's clear she's sizing him up.]

[he certainly doesn't take any offense at being sized up. for one, he's sizing her up in turn; he can tell this woman is a powerful light. and accompanied by a Spirit, outside of the Realm of Sleep? clearly something more is going on here than immediately meets the eye.

and if he can sense that much about her, he's certain she can sense a few things about him that it would make sense to be wary of. especially if the little cat Spirit had apparently already noticed him and told her about him.]

I could say the same to you. [he's a little less guarded than she is; more curious.]

Never seen a Dream Eater here in the waking worlds.

[Her movements are slow, but the way she stands is that of someone who is calm and assured. She believes she can win against him, if it comes to that.]

I'm afraid I'm not sure what you're referring to. Chirithy is a Spirit, and I would very much like to see yours.

[If his is a nightmare... She'll know. She'll know in that instant what it is she has to do.]

[he blinks at her, and there is nothing on his face but honest confusion.

what part of what he said didn't make sense to her? the part about waking worlds? or... no, there's no way she knows what a Spirit is but not a Dream Eater, surely? that'd be like knowing what a 'mango' is, but not a 'fruit'.]

Mine? ... Sorry, I've never seen that kind of Spirit before. And the only time I traveled with Spirits was when I was visiting the Sleeping Worlds. Where we [ate] fought Nightmares together.

[Honest confusion, or a clever lie. Her eyes narrow, but her keyblade isn't called into hand just yet.]

All Keyblade wielders have a Chirithy. A spirit to guide them and help them face any challenge. What do you mean by 'Sleeping' worlds?

[That's an odd turn of phrase.]

Just that - worlds that exist in the Realm of Sleep, dreaming. Whether they fell to darkness and were restored, but not ready to awaken, or... actually, to be honest, I don't understand everything about what makes a world sleep.

[That other thing, though...]

Sorry, I need to ask you something. You say all Keyblade wielders have a Chirithy, but... I'm pretty sure I know all the Keyblade wielders there are, and none of them do. Can you tell me a little more?

[Well, he's certainly been... surprisingly helpful, considering the fact it seems like his heart is teetering on the brink of both Dark and Light.]

They should have one. Chirithy are created to help keyblade wielders, as I said. There's little more to it than that. Tell me in return, why does your heart have such strong ties to the Darkness?

[he doesn't seem surprised by the question, or offended, or even defensive. just... resigned, and a little embarrassed.]

... Thought you could probably sense that.

It's a long story... I can tell you the whole thing, if you want, but I'd rather be somewhere more private than this.

But I can tell you this, right now. This darkness of mine - you don't have to be afraid of it. It, and I, are sworn to the light.

[An interesting choice of words, but she senses the sincerity in them, and for the moment, she allows it, giving him a nod.]

Very well, but I do expect an answer to my question. In return, I'll try and answer yours the best I can.

[It's only fair.]

Thanks.

[he nods at her, grateful.]

Before we go anywhere, though... you're a Keyblade Master, right? Master... Invi, this little guy said?

That is correct. Master Invi, leader of Union Anguis, and all the Wielders that belong to it.

[The Chirithy seemingly startles at being mentioned, and disappears in a quick puff of smoke in surprise.

It'll be back, should the situation arise, of course.]

[oh no it's cute. he wants one.

Riku bows to her, slightly, as if from one equal to another]

Master Riku. Uh, no Union. If I'm supposed to have one of those, nobody told me.

Edited 2019-03-05 07:19 (UTC)

I hope that was a joke. [The bow is noted, but he does genuinely seem confused. Still, she can't help her disapproving tone as he calls himself a Master, and then says he belongs to no Union.

At least the Union part is less troubling than he thinks, if only because it's already odd that he has no Chirithy.]

... Why would I be joking? This really is the first I've heard of that.

I was referring to you calling yourself a Master. There are only seven, and as I know them all, I'm not sure why you think you count among us.

[It's not said rudely, she would never be rude about it, but this entire situation is odd, and frankly, she just wants some answers.]

To say nothing of your precarious predicament, of course.

[even if she isn't saying it rudely... it stings, more than a bit, that she's standing here and calling him not a Master to his face, in almost as many words. his title may still feel strange on him, and it may be something he is resolved not to become arrogant about, but it is his. he feels as though he should defend it.

(to hear her talk about his "precarious predicament" is, if anything, worse. if there is one thing he is certain of, it is his mastery of his own heart's darkness.)

but this is definitely strange. something doesn't add up. his pride is not important at the moment.]

Seven Masters... As far as I know, there's barely more than seven Keyblade wielders.

Master Invi, you said something a little earlier that sounded strange to me. You said, "Union Anguis, and all the Wielders that belong to it." How many... is that supposed to be, exactly?

Edited 2019-03-05 07:46 (UTC)

[The moment he says that there's barely more than seven keyblade wielders, her shock is obvious, just from body language alone, the way her lips part slightly, and her hands open at her side while her shoulders go stiff.]

There... are thousands in Union Anguis alone, and hundreds of thousands totalling throughout the Unions whole. [A countless number, and to say there's barely more than seven....

It's not adding up.]

[her obvious shock gives him another piece of the puzzle, and the word thousands completes it.

thousands... hundreds of thousands of lifeless keys abandoned in the badlands, their dull gleam in the dusty air the only tribute to the hearts that had once held them.

his shoulders sag, and he turns a look on her of terrible understanding.]

...So that's it. I get it now.

We're not from the same time. You're... from a long time ago, aren't you?

Before the first Keyblade War.

[Before the first Keyblade War.

There's been a second, since her death at the hands of the first. Still, she takes this information with surprising elegance. She's not concerned about her death in the first. She knew it would happen.

The fact that there's a second, and potentially more than that, however...]

It appears so. Are you implying there's been more than one Keyblade War?

Not implying.

My friends and I fought in the second one. We brought it to an end not long before we came here.

I see. I... I'm sorry that there was a second. It must have been terrible to deal with, you have my sympathies. [She can only imagine... Though with such a small amount of wielders left... And now there's undoubtedly fewer.]

It wasn't great.

But - it wasn't anything like the scale of the first one.

Our enemy was a Master named Xehanort. He was obsessed with the legends of the old Keyblade War... how the World was destroyed and remade. [a sarcastic sort of bitterness creeps into his tone] I guess he didn't like what we got, so he wanted another do-over.

For over ten years, he'd been working and scheming to bring about a new Keyblade War. To forge the X-Blade for himself, and open Kingdom Hearts.

He got his war. He even got his X-Blade. But we defeated him... and kept the worlds safe.

I understand what you're saying, but... That isn't how to summon Kingdom Hearts. [Surely not. It was when wielders collected light solely for themselves...] Or, at the very least, it's not how it was summoned at the start of the first Keyblade War.

[Also, the old man is a fool. Why would anyone want that? Even they had had fail-safes when they'd known Kingdom Hearts was to be summoned whether or not they wanted it.]

Either way, I'm glad to hear it, though the way you're speaking, I would assume that you had significantly less losses than we suffered.

I guess there's more than one way to summon it, then, because there was definitely a giant heart-shaped moon in the sky and it took all of us to lock it again.

But, yeah. Not... a lot of casualties on our side.

[not none, though.]

I'm sorry. I wish I could help ease your loss, but I'm afraid I know I will not survive the first war. [It it written.] All I can offer is my condolences, and the promise that I will do my best to help those you lost in the Final World.

RIKU

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