▶ TDM .010

[prismods]

to someone special

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"Wham! - Last Christmas (Official Video)" (Watch on YouTube)

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.

Comments

[tranquillus]

Bean.

[ Just to get the picture clear that it has a name, as ridiculous as it sounds. Maki watches the black cat over Aoba's shoulder, and while he doesn't release him from his grip, his voice does go back to a calmer tone. ]

Can't go back. Owner's not around.

[ Now that it's being held a little more properly, the feisty kitty seems to settle, sniffing at Aoba's hands curiously, giving them a lick before meowing as it makes one more effort to pull itself out of the stranger's hold. ]

Taking care of Bean until he comes back. [ The cat's owner, he means. Maki's hand finally falls away as Maki steps closer beside Aoba, and he offers his hands so the cat can be given to him. ]

[talkscrap]

[Oh. Well. That's fair enough, probably? If the would-be burglar is taking care of the cat, then he should definitely be the one to keep an eye on it. That makes more sense anyway, Aoba belatedly scolds himself. Why would anyone follow a random cat around?!

More sheepish than scared now, Aoba carefully deposits Bean into the man's hands. It's not like he wanted to separate them in the first place; it just seemed to make sense, to make the cat go back to its owner! Aoba should really look into cat-proofing his place. Between Cordis and other moonblessings, there's an overabundance of people-animals around from time to time, not to mention the actual animals.]

Try to keep a better eye on it. Okay?

[Kind of a bold statement, but in the kitty's best interest, and hence surprisingly easy to make.]

If people thought he was a person, all sorts of weird things might have happened.

[... Let's not think too much about what he's thinking about, there.]

[tranquillus]

[ There's a gruff rumble of a huff, but Maki stays silent, particularly because he knows he probably should have held onto the cat the entire time he'd been wandering around. But he's never had a pet before, and cats are a handful. Bean had been curious about the area as soon as they stepped off the Moonport terminal. He thought it'd be more nervous about being in a strange place like Lunatia. Instead the cat had ran off wherever it wanted and Maki could only follow.

As Bean settles into his arms, it gives a wide yawn, licking at its paws while Maki just stares sort of incredulously at Aoba. ]

...he's a cat, not a person.

[ And he's not even sure he wants to touch upon what sort of "weird things" anyone would want to do with a cat around here.

(As a new arrival, he knows zero about the whole "turning into an animal" thing in Prismatica) ]

[talkscrap]

He could have been a Cordis Moonblessed!

[It's said with a decided undertone of "duh". Considering Aoba was pretty confident that he would never transform at all during his first month or so here, for no reason other than not being able to imagine it happening, the criticism is hypocritical at best.]

People turn into animals all the same. Mostly it's just getting animal ears or a tail, but sometimes -...

[Sometimes self-lubricating asses are part of the deal as well. With his thoughts drifting in that direction, Aoba works hard to find literally any other way to finish that sentence. (What kind of animal has a self-lubricating ass, anyway!?)]

... sometimes they just become the animal as well! There's no way to tell, except they can still talk.

And the moonlacing, I guess...

[That is a pretty good way to be sure, actually. Congratulations, Aoba, for working that out only now.]

[tranquillus]

[ Of course Maki's immediate thoughts are, "what the fuck is a Cordis" and "what the fuck is a Moonblessed". As is probably evident by this point, he's not much of a talker, so when the Lunar Scientia got a hold of him after arriving on Iris he didn't ask many questions. He didn't say much of anything at all, really.

But apparently something about that has to do with turning into animals, which... again, sounds like a lot of bullshit. But he has to remember that he's on a strange alien planet, he ended up on the moon, and this guy with obnoxious blue hair doesn't really seem like he's kidding. So it's probably true.

People that turn into animals... huh. Maki holds the cat up in his arms, looking at him intently.

What would Bean look like if he were a person. Black fur, blue eyes...

Maki wonders... if he'd look sort of like Haru. ]

...Bean.

[ Maki seems to speak to the cat, while all it really does is squirm and sway its tail before giving a responding meow. He probably thinks he's going to be let down. Too bad, Maki isn't letting him out of his grasp. ]

What's moonlacing?

[ And again, it seems like he's trying to. Ask the cat. ]

[talkscrap]

[...

......

Well then. Just on the off chance that the giant of a man is talking to him and not the cat, Aoba decides to answer. The cat's meowing, after all: if it could talk, it would have done so already!]

Moonlacing is any form of physical contact that both parties enjoy... I guess? It can just be holding hands or kissing, but also... sex.

[Aoba, for one, has done more of the sex thing than anything else. It'd be food for thought, if his thought-stomach weren't so tiny.]

It's how you make Chroma, and you need Chroma to live. It's also like money.

[tranquillus]

[ It should probably be more jarring for Maki to hear that, essentially, in order to get by in this world and gain money, or "Chroma", to live, it requires acts of physical intimacy with other people. Actions which include but are not exclusive to sex.

But really all he can think is: ]

Prostitution.

[ I mean. That's what he's getting from this. ]

[talkscrap]

... It's a little like that... but not actually like that!

[He should be more offended, probably, but "doing it for money" had been one of his problems with the concept of moonlacing, at first. (There had been more, several of which even sillier. But that's just Aoba for you.)]

Apart from anything else: both parties involved get the Chroma, and nobody loses anything. You both have to enjoy it, too!

[There is no room for dodgy consent with Chroma... for the most part, and Aoba chooses not to think too hard on the rest.]