▶ 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]

[ Denial's a good way to start. As easy as it is for Noctis to accept it, that he'd die for his friends, for everyone, no question... It's harder to accept leaving them. How's he supposed to repeat it to Prompto now when it was so hard to say the first time? He cowers at the intent look in those trusting blue eyes, ducking his head and leaning an arm on his knee, looking down. If accepting it means hurting Prompto like that... He chickens out. ]

Dunno. Maybe not.

[ Even if there is no other way and it's a waste of time looking, at least they can pretend for a while. The pain just at the idea of separation has to lessen eventually. ...Right? ]

[punshots]

[ His voice hitches, desperate to say something else, to dig deeper into that response. It's the only hope he has that maybe there's another way around this. There has to be another way. Why do the Astrals just get to decide that anyway? So what if a lot of people have sacrificed for Noctis? That was their choice. That doesn't mean...he shouldn't have to.

But Prompto is acutely aware of the effect that his words could have on his friend, and that trying to influence this choice one way or the other is incredibly selfish. Whatever lies ahead of him...only Noctis can make that choice. It doesn't matter in the end, what Prompto wants. If it is the only way, if it's what Noctis chooses to do...

But just to think it nearly brings tears to his eyes, so his gaze drops away, his head hanging heavily. ]

Noct...you know whatever you do, I've got your back, right? 'Til the bitter end.

[ Ever at his side, as he promised. ]

[mcring]

[ It's hard to think about the past. Now, it's even harder to think about the future. But it'll be alright, because whatever happens, whether they find another way or not... They still have right now. What was it Prompto told him once? He has so much fun, he forgets what he's not? It's a good way to live. And the only way Noctis has ever lived has been by moving forward, with his friends there beside him. Why should that change, just because the ending might not be what they planned?

Though his voice isn't wholly steady, Noct still forces himself to lift his head and smile as he knocks Prompto's shoulder. ]

Yeah, you'd better. We've got a long way left to go, and I couldn't do it without my best friend.

[ All they've hurt each other, all they've been through, and still, their friendship hasn't changed. If anything, it's only gotten stronger. And for that, Noct's more grateful to Prompto than words could say. ]

[punshots]

[ It has gotten stronger, like steel forged in a fire, unbreakable even by the strongest of forces that push against them. They've been through so much together now, and really, in the grand scheme, it matters little that Noctis doesn't remember his time in the Circle. Their friendship hasn't changed. It's the same as it ever was, and even when Prompto is afraid of what might come in the future, he knows beyond a doubt that as long as he relies on that bond, he's doing the right thing.

And at least they have right now. While they're here...they don't have to worry about it as much. So he can only hope that this will last, that they have that precious time. ]

Then I'll be taggin' along the whole way. Even on this weird roadtrip in space we're on.

[ There's a reason they made it here together. He isn't going anywhere. ]

[mcring]

Good to hear.

[ It is. It's really good to hear, an assurance Noctis didn't even realize he needed until he got it. His smile's more genuine as he starts shoving Prompto however he needs to... hips, shoulders, hands... towards the edge of the bed. ]

And since nothing's changed? You still get the floor.

[punshots]

[ Ah...he makes a pledge of undying loyalty and this is where it gets him. Instant betrayal. Prompto is hardly expecing Noct to shove him off the bed just then, and so he offers up very little in the way of resistance, slipping haplessly onto the floor.

But what he lacks in resistance he supplies with a loud, indignant half-squawk, half-laugh. ]

Hey! After that heart to heart and everything! [ A sigh that is very much put-upon. ] Alright, I'll just lie here, on the floor, cold and dejected...

[ But he is pretty tired, regardless. That feelings jam took it out of him! So he stretches out, tucking his hands behind his head. ]

[mcring]

[ Noctis laughs, and it feels good, even if it's a quiet, rusty sound. ]

Hey, don't blame me. You had your chance.

[ He grabs the one pillow from the cot and throws it without too much force down at Prompto's face, and before he has a chance to recover, the thin blanket after that. It leaves the bed stripped, but it's only fair, since he's taking the mattress. Noct stretches out his shoulders, his legs, his spine, and settles down on his stomach, leaning on his arms, and looking over the side of the bed with a smile. Everything is Awful™, but that's nothing new for them, is it? Maybe there's a reason Prompto has memories that he doesn't. Maybe it'll keep going on like that, him and his alien girlfriend jumping from star to star, living the kind of adventure they only ever used to dream about, more like a video game than how their road trip really turned out to be. ]

Thanks.

[ Noct says, quiet, in the moments before sleep. He doesn't have to explain what for, right? He couldn't if he tried. ]

[punshots]

[ Down come the pillow and blanket, and while they might hit Prompto square in the face and make him swear, he's not about to complain. Instead, he chuckles, tucking the pillow behind his head and the blanket over his body before settling back down again. The floor isn't all that much harder than the ground they used to sleep on, and probably softer than some motel beds.

And honestly? He'll sleep much easier tonight than he has in weeks, with his best friend back at his side, where he belongs. Even if they're strangers in a strange land, at least they're in it together, and that's all he needs to know, really. The rest they can figure out in time.

So he tips a lazy grin back up at Noctis, a sort of peace settling over his heart. ]

...Yeah. Right back at you.

[ No, he doesn't need to explain what for, either. That's all that needs to be said. ]