▶ TDM OVERFLOW .001

[prismods]

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!

Comments

[mcring]

[ It doesn't occur to Noctis until after he's kissing Luna, and she's kissing back, that maybe he shouldn't; maybe he's being presumptuous. Maybe he should've waited, some other time that was more special, with more build up. But how much more build-up could they get? He was sure he'd lost this chance to be with her forever. He couldn't keep himself from holding her, and kissing her, and being close as they can get for as long as they can stay there, even if he tried.

Such a gentle kiss, and it's still better than Noct imagined. Luna's so soft, and warm, and sweet... Her sigh makes him shiver, and it feels like a dance, like music, how she tilts her head and parts her lips, and he does the same to meet her. It's like starbursts, the first slip of his tongue against hers, and every moment after. His arms wrap around Luna's waist tighter, pulling her flush against him, learning how to kiss her with every heartbeat, dizzy with wondering how they're ever going to stop. ]

[petparent]

[ call her something of a late bloomer, perhaps, but this is as strange and thrilling and new to her as it is to him - she has not exactly been free to date like a normal girl, nor had she ever had the desire to. her duties both as princess and oracle had tied up her time quite thoroughly, and besides, she has never loved anyone but him, would never have cared to touch or kiss any other, not when he was out of her reach.

and so every sensation is crisp and new and exciting. the slide of his tongue is foreign but exciting, and a soft sound spills from her mouth into his, a warm thrill shooting down her spine.

it feels natural. different, and new, and nothing she has ever known before, but right. she does not want to shy from it, but to embrace it. luna's arms around his shoulders tighten, holding close, and she cannot help it - a soft laugh bubbles up between their mouths, light and warm and easy. she has waited so very long for this.. ]

[mcring]

[ Maybe if they had the chance to develop all of this naturally, it would feel different now. If Luna had lived in Insomnia, and they'd gone to school together, grown up like normal kids, and she laughed into their first kiss, Noctis would've probably died of embarrassment on the spot.

So in a way, it's better that it took them so long to get to this place, and find each other. At least Noctis is old enough to appreciate it, appreciate Luna for how incredible she is, and how amazing this moment is, wherever they are and how long it took to get here. And he's confident enough to laugh back with her, and keep holding her close instead of shying away. He kisses the corner of her smile (How long has it been since he's seen her smile like that? Feels like ages.), and presses their foreheads together.

This is the part where he gives a big speech, right? He should confess his feelings, shouldn't he? He wants to. What if this is it for them? What if they're pulled apart by those people who brought them here, or something bigger, and he never gets another chance? Noctis closes his eyes, and swallows around the lump in his throat, and his voice still sounds rough when he tries it. ]

Luna, I...

[ He knows what he wants to say, how he feels. Why's it so hard to get out? ]

[petparent]

[ it does not matter that they have not spent real, physical time together in years, it does not matter that most of their lives they have been apart, corresponding with one another only through letters - she knows him. she knows his heart, she knows what he is feeling, she knows that he has trouble expressing the flood of emotion in his heart.

and so she smiles, broad and warm and unimaginably happy. ]

I know.

[ he doesn't have to say it now. he does not ever have to say it at all, if he does not want to. she can hear it in the sound of his breath, she can see it in the shine of his eyes, she can taste it on her lips, where he left his kiss. if he doesn't want to use his words, he does not need to, and she won't ask it of him.

carefully, playfully, she flicks the hair from his eyes. ]

Are you hungry?

[mcring]

[ She gives him an out, and Noctis is grateful for that, even if the guilt is like a living thing in his stomach, gnawing at him from the inside. If he can't say how he feels about Luna now, when will he get the chance? The idea that this time with her might last is a nice one, but it's also a fantasy. He's not naive enough to think they've got all the time in the world to spend together, not when their lives have proven that idea wrong at every single turn. Maybe... He can wait just a little longer, though. Luna makes him feel better about that, too. She's better than he deserves.

Except, wow hey, his hair is carefully styled like that? He blinks and shifts back half a step, enough room to comb his hair back in place. ]

Yeah, I could go for something hot. And a place to sit down.

[ Mostly that second one. Sure, he's been living off a mostly liquid diet for the past couple of days, and a real meal isn't something he'd pass up. Except that he would. He'd give up food, sleep, anything, if it meant another minute in Luna's company. If he can have both, though... well, that's even better. She's got to be starving, too, if she's been on this world( ...?) as long as he has.

He offers his hand for her to take before they start walking, and a glance towards Umbra and Pyrna to see if they're still around or if they've wandered off again. ]

How long have you been here?

[ Days? Longer? Has she been living off dust and potions, too much walking and not enough sleep, too? ]

[petparent]

[ his hand slips into hers, and it's such a simple thing, especially after the kiss they had shared, but still it makes her heart dance in her breast like a butterfly. how exciting it is to be able to experience these things that she had waited for for so long, and even moreso, how good it will feel to.. rest, if she can manage it. all her life she has been bound by duty, but now that it is done, now that faroff eos has been cleansed..

what lies ahead of her, now?

food, apparently. it's a good start. ]

A few days. Not much longer than you have been, I should guess.

[ from what she's gathered, they all appeared around the same time - hundreds of them scattered across the crystal wastes all at once. ]

[mcring]

[ Rest sounds nice, doesn't it? Noct is ready to sleep for about a decade after all he's been through. But at the same time, now that Luna's here, all he wants to do is stay awake, and not risk missing a second. Even just walking with her, holding hands... it feels like this is how things were always meant to be. Whatever caused it. ]

"Moonblessed," brought here by crystals. Here I thought the only crystal around was the one stolen from Insomnia.

[ On Eos. They're definitely not on Eos anymore. But where they hell are they? "On a ship travelling from the moon Iris to the planet Prismatica" doesn't exactly clear things up. There's no lore or prophecies about travelling to other worlds that Noctis remembers, but he asks Luna anyway, because he wasn't always told everything he needed to know, about the stone, or the gods, or even about himself. ]

You think it brought us here?

[ Not exactly the conversation he'd like to have with her, either. Nothing's ever easy, is it? ]

[petparent]

The thought has crossed my mind..

[ it cannot seem be a coincidence, can it? if so, it's certainly a rather mindblowing one. the crystal is such an important facet of eos, and it connects to a space between worlds - if anything on their star could have brought them to another plane, it would seem that the crystal would be the most obvious culprit, especially given the nature of the moon that they were found on. ]

Of course I can't be sure.

[ and hey look, here they are in the cafeteria!! no more powdered food. ]

Perhaps we will find out more, one we're down below.

[mcring]

[ So she doesn't know, either. That's probably a good thing, right? Noctis still has a lot to do. He has to go back to Eos and finish what he started. But Luna... she's done so much already. She's doesn't need to be the Oracle anymore. If this is a place where she can be normal, live whatever life they have here as long as it lasts, and live in peace... That's even better. Noctis nods. ]

Yeah, maybe.

[ And a real cafeteria, wow. Actual tables, with seats to sit down in, and the promise of real food. He grins at Luna, and tugs her into walking a little faster. He didn't realize how hungry he was until the smell of food hit him in the face. ]

Come on.

[ Not exactly fancy restaurant fare, but it's hot and it's an open buffet with no charge. If Noct weren't starving, he'd be more suspicious about it. But free food sounds great right now, too much to turn down. He hands a plate to Luna, and grabs one of his own, and then it's time to dig in and find somewhere to sit together. ]

[petparent]

[ noctis isn't the only one - after a few long days spent scouring a barren crystalscape with nothing but powdered sustenance to eat, even the most greasy, low brow of fast foods would seem a gourmet meal. this buffet looks positively alluring.

following beside him, luna takes the plate he offers and begins to load it up with goodies, fresh vegetables and what looks like mashed potatoes, cornbread, slices of gravied meat that seems to be turkey - beggers can't be choosers, it all smells delicious and edible. ]

I would have never expected to be so glad to see an ear of corn..

[ she's gonna be a mom here for a second and plop a couple florets of broccoli onto his plate, because she knows he's not going to go for them on his own. eat the freaking lettuce finnegan!! ]

[mcring]

[ Nah, just going to lick the tuna juice off it and spit it out, thanks. Corn may be one of the least offensive vegetables, but that doesn't make it any less of a vegetable. Noct chuckles, as he skips a whole section of the buffet that's all mixed vegetables. ]

Yeah, you enjoy that.

[ Noct's very adult here, in that he only looks at Luna like he's been betrayed, then frowns sadly at his plate and doesn't actually scrape the broccoli back into its metal tray. He just leaves it there on his plate. Staring at him. Leaking gross green juice in the direction of his mac and cheese. The things he does for love. He scoops a pile of rice in the middle like a wall, problem solved, before looking around for a pair of seats.

No booths, only tables. But he finds a small one out of the way, just two seats across from each other, that he leads them to, and sets his plate and glass of water down on the table so he can pull one chair over to an adjacent side, close enough to sitting next to each other, without all that space between them. And then, kind of belatedly, pull out her chair, too.

It's not like he's looking for privacy, or intimacy, exactly. Although, he wouldn't say 'no' to either. He just... ]

It's been a long time.

[petparent]

[ yeah she sees that sour look he's giving the broccoli, but in a truly stonehearted manner, she doesn't care!! let him look as betrayed as he wants, broccoli is very good for you, so you're gonna eat it, spoiled prince.

also, no booths?? what sort of establishment is this??

the table will do, though, and she can't help but smile when he arranges the chairs so he can sit beside her, rather than across from her. she can't say she blames him. after spending far too much time apart, she's more than happy to take every opportunity to be near to him.

even if she doesn't need her seat pulled out for her.. she laughs, sets down her tray, and sits down primly. ]

Why thank you, your highness.

[mcring]

[ Wow look Noctis was just trying to be a good fi... person?? And she goes and laughs at his courtesy and teases him for it. His mouth drops open, and his instinct is to argue back rudely, fall in his seat, and give her chair a kick for good measure.

He's been on an all-dude road trip for way too long.

Instead, Noct drops his head, and just kind of shuffles awkwardly for a second before falling to sit in the chair he's pulled out for himself. ]

...No problem.

[ It's stupid. He's stupid. But he wants to do everything right this time.

Except for eating the broccoli. No thanks. Noct picks at the turkey instead. Better to eat while it's still hot, and he is starving. At least having his mouth full is an excuse not to stick his foot in it while he thinks of something to say. Somewhere between "Hot out in that desert, wasn't it?" and "So, are we still engaged?" ...Damn, that's a lot of middle ground. ]

[petparent]

[ boys are so stupid!!

but as far as luna is concerned, he is doing everything right. she already loves him, that won't stop any time soon, no matter how many chairs he does or does not pull out for her. little things like that.. don't matter. not in the long run. they only need to learn how to be together in those small, mundane sort of ways that don't revolve around.. saving the world.

anyway, luna digs right into her meal without another moment's hesitation. she's ladylike enough not to just.. shovel food into her face, but it's still clear that she's enjoying herself. food is good. ]

Is everything all right?

[ she asks, between bites. he seems tense!! ]

[mcring]

[ You'd think they'd be used to it. Not like things were any easier when they were kids. Noct picking at his food while Luna smiles and asks if everything's alright is just like how things used to be. Except, it's not. Nevermind the fact that they're on another star, maybe even inside the crystal itself, while the whole rest of the world moves on... Luna was gone. What's the point in getting comfortable when it can't even last?

But Noctis wants to. More than anything, he just wants things to be good for them, at least for a while. Why ruin what little time they might have? But he's never been good at ignoring what's bothering him. He looks up at her, just because he can't... not. It feels like a crime to look away when she's right here next to him, when all he really wants to do is reach out and hold her, and never let go. ]

Luna, do you... remember what happened? A couple months ago, in Altissia. ...With the Hydraean.

[petparent]

[ ah.

this might not be the best time or place for a conversation like this, but.. she did ask, and it's an important conversation to have. luna's gaze drops to her plate, her hand holding her fork going still. ]

I remember, yes.

[ she says, though for her it was far longer than a few months ago. thankfully she has come to terms with the fact that time stretches and bends in ways she cannot fully comprehend. ]

I remember Leviathan, and after.

[mcring]

[ So she does remember. Noctis's frown deepends, and he drops his head. In a way, it's a relief that she knows, and Noctis won't have to keep that secret from her, or worry about hurting her when she finds out. But instead, she has to remember something that awful happening to her. He feels guilty for bringing it, but it's practically all he can think about when he looks at her. The rain, the blood... How fast it all happened, how easily she slipped through his fingers and was gone forever, just like that.

Well, not forever. Not even before they got here. Noct's voice is rough and quiet, and turns even more towards Luna, his eyes still down, idly watching her hands and the food that's getting colder because he can't be strong like she is about this, even for Luna's sake. He forces himself to look up, because at least he can do that much. ]

After... I know you were still around, helping me, even when I thought you were gone. Because of the crystal. I guess that's how we're both here now.

[ It's more than he could have ever hoped for, to see her again, like this. To sit next to her, to share a meal. Noctis is really grateful. He's happy. He wouldn't change this moment or any of the ones before it for anything. He'd give anything to make it last. But... it's still hard. And he has no idea how to say that, or how to stop feeling like this is all a dream, and any second he's going to wake up in a world without her again. ]

[petparent]

[ it feels almost a lifetime ago, to luna. ten long years in the mortal realm, and to her time had felt.. strange, malleable, not quite there. she watched, and she waited, she looked over eos and the crystal, and the boys left behind when the prince took his long nap.

she did not fear death. what she feared was not being around to help, to assist them however she needed to, to do her part to salvage a desperate star, suffocating in darkness. and so thinking back on her death does not frighten or disturb her. maybe it should. she does not know what is says about her that she is not unsettled by it.

in the end she is at peace. all she had hoped for had come to pass.

but it is not so for noctis. not yet, at least. still, she doesn't have an answer for him - she has no idea how they were brought here, or why, or even if this is not all some elaborate dream in her afterlife. ]

It stands to reason that the crystal would be responsible. I cannot know for sure.

[mcring]

Yeah...

[ Neither can he. Seems like there's no chance of them getting any answers, for now. And no reason not to enjoy this moment together, for however brief or long it lasts. Noctis needs to just forget about what happened, move past it.

He's never been good at doing that. But, he's got to try. He's already told her he's sorry, tried his best to show her what she means to him. The best thing he can do is make their time together as good as it can get. There's just... one other thing he won't be able to move past without asking. ]

Do you...

[ He starts saying it, gets the words all planned out in his head. They're right there in his throat... but he just can't spit them out. Noct shakes his head and shrugs, readjusts how he's sitting and generally tried to forget he was even going to ask. He can't. No way. Not... like this. He spears a piece of broccoli with his fork, and holds it up, looking as angsty as he feels, redirecting all that manpain into his veggie dilemma. ]

You don't really expect me to eat these, do you?

[ He'll ask. Later. He'll wait until the perfect moment, and then he'll ask her. ]