prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .010

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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 accidentally swallow the worm at the bottom of my tequila? — 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.

▶ I Heat Up, I Can’t Cool Down
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 After settling into your apartment, you notice a shiny silver indestructible mechanoid cube with a pair of tiny stag horns attached to it. The card attached says that it’s a gift from the Lunatian government. One touch of the cube makes it hover in place, light up brightly, and play the classic hit Last Firalia by Blam! on repeat. By the 7th listen, you get hot under your collar, beads of sweat forming on your temples and rolling down your neck, and your breath grows labored. By the 17th listen, you’re all but ready to burst into flames — a stark contrast to the plummeting temperature outdoors.

A bit of vigorous moonlacing should keep you from growing too hot and bothered indoors. Or you could simply decide to chuck the cube out the window and let it be someone else’s problem. That won't really stop it, though. The music only stops once the cube picks up enough Chroma in the atmosphere generated via moonlacing, so go forth, and spread the Firialia lust, love, and cheer!

▶ It’s the Moose Wonderful Time of the Year
City of Lunatia | top

In the city of Lunatia, the streets are emblazoned with beautiful antler decorations, gleaming gold and silver along every walkway. Snowflake holograms appear on shop fronts to announce their annual Firialia sales, and Prismals are all rushing to buy gifts and make preparations for the upcoming holiday.

According to legend, on one incredibly harsh winter, ancient Prismals were downtrodden and on the verge of starvation when the majestic stag king of the forest, Firi, emerged from his humble kingdom to bring them warm clothing, blankets, and gifts for surviving the biting cold. It is said that his spirit remains on the land even after the Calamity, appearing every winter solstice to bless the Prismals for the new year ahead. Every year, Prismals mount festive wreaths on their door, decorated with stag horns in Firi's honor, and exchange gifts to invite the benevolent spirit of Firi into their homes.

A Hanging fake deer antlers is a strong Firialia tradition that has endured for centuries — a success that can be attributed to its magical effects, which often compels two people caught beneath to share a bit of Firialia spirit with one another. One can find these trinkets everywhere, decorating even the most secluded of spaces. The antlers come in three colors:

RED: Causes a dangerous but intense feeling of desire to embrace the person you're with! You will want to roughly pin the closest person to you on a flat surface, passionately kiss, and/or aggressively hold hands.

BLUE: Causes people to want to kiss until they’re out of breath, hands liberally moving across each other’s body, and the errant temptation to go further, but no taking any clothes off in public or the Moon Knights will get you! You’ll simply be eager to tease and kiss beyond the lips and have difficulty feeling sated.

PURPLE: Causes people to want to caress each other's faces affectionately, steal soft kisses, and/or tenderly lace their fingers together. They may also feel compelled to offer up some sweet whispers and compliments!

B To combat the cool weather, Prismals will also be handing out cups of warm chocolate moose mousse. This light and creamy dessert is prepared in enchanted moose-shaped cups with a pair of festive graham cookie antlers poking out of it. Prismal traditions include taking a bite and passing it to your neighbor, enabling you to get a glimpse of one another’s Firialia wishlists left unspoken. Fancy a new fishing rod this holiday? Or perhaps that saucy leather subligar you’ve been eyeing since your arrival? The words and images that make up your list appear before whoever eats your mousse, so who knows? Maybe you might get it this Firilia...

▶ Are You Not Entertained?
Level 1, PrismaPlace | top

After the long wait and preparations, the League Match Action Online (LmaO) preliminary qualification rounds are now underway at the gaming hub in PrismaPlace in Level 1, as the city will be hosting the LmaO Grand Championship next month. Moonblessed old and new are welcome to take the game for a test drive and participate!

The award-winning VR MOBA boasts amazingly seamless first-person view graphics and a real-time combat mode almost as authentic as real life and guaranteed to wow and amaze. Players can explore and immerse themselves in the fantasy world of LmaO, where they can create their own avatars and either fight with or against players from Lunatia and the Kingdom of Lyestellus for glory and loot!

In co-op mode, you will be battling a selection of huge beasts chosen at random. The most notorious among them is Ogma the Dread Ogre, who has high defense and pesky unavoidable attacks. PVP mode pits you against other players, and getting KO’d three times in a row or having your base captured is a loss for you and your team. Fun mode featuring mini-games such as virtual basketball, rhythm step action, beat sword, and many more. Winning any of these modes nets you loads of in-game gold that can be used to buy aesthetic skins, cute in-game pets, fun game emotes, furniture for your in-game house, or weapon and skill upgrades to make you stronger for the next round!

Event emcees will be recruiting anyone passing by for the preliminaries and showing them into fully-equipped private rooms for teams of two to eight players. Each player will be given virtual headsets and tight suits for immersion and communication. Prismal players may be recruited with Moonblessed teams if necessary.

A The scenario for the preliminaries is a majestic coliseum filled with gladiators of all ages and species. In LmaO, weapon choices are currently limited to any melee and ranged weapons you'd find in an ambitious fantasy RPG setting (read: you can find dual swords and grimoires but also gunblades), including an elemental magic system of water, fire, wind, earth, dark and light. Choose your weapon and, with your team, fight for the top spot!

As you begin to battle, you notice that the more you get hit, the more your physical body shows visceral reactions to the attacks. Outside of the game, you lose balance. Bruises appear out of nowhere and mar on your skin. You earn minor abrasions and bleed. It’s possible to feel the sweat or saliva of other players or bots, the sensation of their virtual hands grappling you, or their teeth sinking into your shoulder as they bite. It's a new, tantalizing world of virtual stimulation.

B For those of you more interested in the glamour aspects of LmaO, you are welcome to compete against other players in either the in-game or a real glam-a-thon. Festive LmaO cosplayers will be scattered around the venue, dressed in colorful costumes of characters from the game, such as the ridiculously cool cyborg Kenji and the flirty immortal fox mage Yeri. As for the in-game contestants, they are located on a bright sparkling stage. Large monitors at PrismaPlace can be seen livestreaming everything.

Some of the many competitors are dressed in colorful gear, including stylish himations, risque chitons, and a bevy of glittery, neon gladiator sandals. Challenge other players to a fashion walk-off on the raised catwalk. Score high enough on either contests, and you will win an ultra-rare Firialia plump moose mount in-game. You are welcome to invite others on a scenic moose ride after as the plump moose very slowly waddles across the virtual snowfields and exhibits its adorable built-in feature where it decides to take a nap every few minutes.

▶ 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.

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[ now that he has joined jiang cheng beneath the purple antlers, nie huaisang feels a surge of excitement. a muted, colourful thing that begins beating in his breast, like a bird yearning to take flight and he is inexplicably giddy.

not just because this stranger is handsome and asking for his company (though that does, undoubtedly, make his ego preen). so he leans into the other in return, one hand playfully sliding over jiang cheng's upper arm. ]

I don't know, I don't think I've seen them before but they could have been here months ago. [ a laugh ] Familiar with this place? Ach, not really but you - you are completely new here, are you not?

[ Being leaned on in return... isn't terrible, actually, and there's a pleasantly startled expression on Jiang Cheng's face at this realization. The stranger... smells nice from this proximity, almost like he'd expect to find on a girl. His features are fair, too, more delicate than more people Jiang Cheng knows by far, and whenever the man is feeling coy enough to hide half his face behind the fan it elicits a strange excitement out of Jiang Cheng, like the other man is a mystery for him to unravel. Absently, he nuzzles his cheek against the stranger's shoulder. ]

Is it that obvious...?

Ah? [ he tilts his head in the opposite direction offering his neck.

despite this gesture there is no sense of urgency in him, only a comfortable warmth that envelops him whenever this stranger touches him or prolongues the contact. it must be something in the decorations above them that is causing this but nie huaisang's mind is eerily calm and content. ]

A little, but I will not make fun of you for that. [ he slips his free hand along the small of jiang cheng's back, holding steadily onto him. it's not an embrace yet, but there is a lingering intimacy in the way nie huaisang moves his fingers over the area, stroking slightly as if they are old friends, old lovers. ]

...are you like this with all strange newcomers?

[ It's all Jiang Cheng can think to ask, inexplicably comfortable in the other man's embrace. There's something familiar yet not about it, like going home but wrong, like returning to Lotus Pier for the first time after everything that happened. He doesn't want to leave, but neither does he feel completely at peace. Something is nagging at him at the back of his mind, that there's something he should be realizing or remembering.

...but he can't focus on it. He closes what space remains between them instead, slipping effortlessly into the pretty stranger's arms, face turning instinctively in the direction of that invitingly bared neck. Home-adjacent is good enough in a place as utterly foreign as this one, after all. ]

Only the very good looking ones. [ a lie, really. for all his constant flirtatious commentary intended to have some sort of effect, nie huaisang is very much in love with his jiang cheng. so looking for others to moonlace with in a more intimate sense is pointless in his opinion.

however, there is something about this stranger that nie huaisang likes on first glance. maybe something familiar? huaisang dismisses that for the second option: that this stranger has something of an air to him. even under the influence of these antlers.

nie huaisang half-closes his eyes, relaxes. his hands slip comfortably around jiang cheng's back and stroke in soothing circles. it's not inappropriate but certainly more intimate than is allowed for a sect leader.

but this isn't home and nie huaisang has never cared much for propriety since he found out the truth. ]

[ The reaction from Jiang Cheng is immediate, his frame tensing where it's pressed against the stranger's own as he tenses, sputtering. His mind blanks, embarrassment overtaking what little coherent thought he had left. Nothing about this person is striking him as familiar, because no one has ever spoken to him this way. He doesn't know what to do, what to say, how to react. All he knows is he doesn't want any of this to stop in spite of the burning in his face. He's aware, too, on some level that he doesn't moonlace enough and shouldn't overlook this opportunity.

But he's been silent for a bit now. He should say something. What should he say? He searches his mind, clutching the stranger tighter in his uncertainty. ]

You're... good looking... also...

[ nie huaisang laughs, pulls back to look jiang cheng while slipping his hands around his shoulders. the other is taller than him and he has to stand on tip toes as he tilts his face upward. ]

I know. [ a rare display of confidence because nie huaisang does not know who he is talking to, does not have the decency to ask for a name. ] Do you want to kiss me? Or should I let you go?

[ At the question, Jiang Cheng bristles, shoulders tensing in anxiety and excitement alike. He doesn't want to be let go, too warm and comforted by Huaisang's embrace, but that question— ]

...I've never... [ he mumbles, face going hot. ]

Kissed anyone?

[ huaisang smiles, tilts his head like a bird - feigning innocence as he peers up through thick lashes. ] I will not tell anyone if you kiss me now, I promise. I don't know anything.

[ he trails fingers gently along jiang cheng's jawline, drawing him towards him but keeping a sliver of space between. this is only fun if he does it, after all. ]

[ ........something about what the stranger said just now... tickles at the back of Jiang Cheng's mind. He frowns, trying to focus on the admittedly pretty face before him, but that touch is distracting and the impulse to simply give to the suggestion is strong. Still, he gives one final thrash on the line. ]

...what if I'm... bad?

No one starts out good. [ nie huaisang is all pretence when it comes to confidence, he teases out of instinct and not experience. wherever this is leading, well, he's not going to be concerned for now. ]

Don't you want to get better at it? Go on. [ huaisang's mouth parts slightly, and he tugs - wanting for the other to give in before kissing him in earnest.

nie huaisang is bad at a lot of things. in fact, the list of things he is good at is far shorter than the ones he is bad at but somewhere between those two is kissing. he's learned very well how to kiss jiang cheng and surely the knowledge of that is transferable here. ]

[ Jiang Cheng makes a startled noise as he finds himself relinquishing his first kiss to a beautiful stranger in a new land, a thrill spiking through the core of him. The stranger's lips are soft and warm, firm with just the right amount of give. Jiang Cheng's heart leaps, pulse pounding in his ears as he melts into the kiss, falling into the stranger further as heat flushes through his veins. One taste and he's addicted, unable to think of anything but more. ]

[ nie huaisang has no shame now that he's been drawn into this kiss, all faux insecurity and shyness from before evaporating; this is a battle in his mind and what he wants is to make this stranger flustered and hungry.

he pulls back only slightly, allowing the tip of his tongue to brush jiang cheng's outer lip. he's smiling. ]

More?

[ Unable to speak, Jiang Cheng can only nod. He's wanted someone to... try this sort of thing with for a while, but there was never anyone particularly receptive to his awkward overtures. It's exactly as good as he imagined, maybe even better because it's real and warm and happening. That brush of tongue send a thrill through him and, mesmerized, he leans back in to continue their kiss. ]

[ good, nie huaisang thinks with a surge of satisfaction, and he wraps his arms around jiang cheng's shoulders for balance. he kisses without shame and without any intention of stopping. they might be in public but they are hardly an unusual sight, given the many antlers that have caught other passerby in their orbit.

nie huaisang gives as much as he takes, though yes, he is a greedy lover more likely to take than give but he's not cruel. he will not prey on inexperience and leave jiang cheng wanting. ]

You are a quick learner. [ praise is the best encouragement, huaisang knows that a kind word or compliment is likely to have the results he seeks: more of this man's mouth on his, and hopefully more of his hands too. ]

[ Jiang Cheng reacts immediately to the praise, taking in a sharp breath as a fresh surge of heat floods through him. He rewards the praise with everything his partner hopes for, kissing with clumsy fervor. He isn't quite sure what to do with his hands but tries stroking them over his partner's back appreciatively, wishing the fabric wasn't quite so thick, quite so concealing. ]

[ the enthusiasm is endearing — easy to take advantage of as he slides one hand to slip beneath the folds of the robe. his fingers try to trace the collarbone but their robes are making it very difficult to advance further.

he breaks off the kiss to ask briefly: ] Do you still want everything?

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▶ TDM .010

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i hate jc so much

poor jc

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