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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ seeing each other's wishes seems like such an absurd concept and yet it just happened right in front of their very eyes. it doesn't surprise him that a place that can drag people here against their wills is capable of such a feat, but it doesn't make it any less unnerving. even if he has nothing to hide.

his shoulders roll in what's probably some half-hearted attempt at a shrug. ]

I'm not one for the holidays, [ never have been. he's always spent it trying to avoid the festivities even his captain tries to drag him into it. ] but a wish like yours... surely it's not an impossible goal to achieve.

[ the half-eaten cookie is still in her hands, something he's so intent on staring at as if it has all the answers they seek. ]

Anyone would be lucky to be part of your family.

[Konoha would only be able to agree. Sure, she’d gotten a bit more used to encountering magic since being taken from her village, she’d stopped automatically thinking she’d gone crazy and started just attributing everything she didn’t understand to either “technology” or “magic”... But she can’t say she likes it.

Or likes encountering it in her daily life when she’s just trying to eat. This one might be... perhaps harmless, but. They weren’t always, and she was easily reminded.

Like she’s reminded now of having recently been told in no uncertain terms that what she’d barely registered hearing at the orientation on the moon (because who could listen to that on a moon?) was true. She was barren here. All the Moonblessed were, and though she wanted to believe the people who said that surely it would just magically not be that way again once they got home...

She’s still scared.]

Just impossible here.

[Where she was. Where she didn’t know how long she’d be, or if she’d ever get home. But though her smile slips, she manages to keep it on just barely, forcing the corners of her lips back up.]

But thank you... I’m sorry, I saw your wish but I don’t know your name. I’m Konoha.

[ it's probably a good thing that six encountered magical food so early in the game. maybe it'll better prepare him for whatever else is to come, which is surely much worse than what they just both experienced right now. however, even if it doesn't, it wouldn't be the first time something has caught him so off-guard, and he'll deal with it as they come.

a part of him wants to ask what she means that it's just impossible here, but six isn't blind nor lacks perception. he sees her smile falter just a bit and he knows by then it's not really his place to ask.

he's not the best at comforting anyone either, so... ]

The name and title I was given is Six, member of the Eternals. You need not apologize... My wish...

[ he pauses, unsure of what to say here, but— ]

It's nothing special.

"Six"... ?

[She hopes he isn't offended, as if she's calling his name strange, but Konoha has to check to make sure she heard correctly. Six as in... the number? He says "name" as well as "title"... and "Eternals", which makes it sound like he's immortal? He could be, she's met people here who claimed to be all sorts of things, but...

Instead, she just starts with the name, still holding the cup of chocolate mousse carefully in her hands as if guarding their wishes from any prying eyes or minds.]

I think every wish is special.

[That's what makes them wishes, not just "wants".]

Perhaps.

[ the sentiment is appreciated all the same, but six knows he isn't granted the same luxury as everyone else. try as he might, not even his simplest wishes are left sacred by virtue of everything he's done in the past.

the mask hides the rueful smile he's got on his face right now, but the tone of his voice gives it away. ]

Someone like me can only hope it is.

[ silence follows but six doesn't let it linger too long. ]

... We should return the mug soon, to whoever owns it.

[She only has the voice to go off, but.. there's something a bit sad in there that Konoha can't quite let go, her own expression softening slightly in the silence. She'd been hoping all her life, and it's all she can do now, in this place full of magic and technology that she doesn't understand. Hope that she can one day have the family she desires. Hope that one day they can go back to their homes. Hope that everyone stays safe in the meantime...]

Hope is all any of us can do.

[Even the ones among them who did have powers... Even the Lunar Scientia, they didn't have the answers. Just hope.

So she smiles, patting the mug in her hands.]

I'll take care of that, don't worry. This one's on me!

[ the erune is silent for the longest time, taking in her words.

hope can be such a treacherous thing. six is intimately aware of its double-edged sword: how torturous it is as much as it's capable of bringing you so much relief. still, staying hopeful has its own merits that he can't deny, and doing so is slowly becoming much easier these days anyway. ]

You're certain? I can accompany you...

[ he's not sure why he even suggested it. time to see if he can salvage his embarrassing suggestion. ]

Crowds can get unruly during a festival like this.

[ close enough. ]

[It would be easy to insist that she could do it by herself. After all, it really was just throwing away a weirdly psychic wish-vision dessert... but he was being nice, and he was either new to the city or just new to her... either way.]

Are all "Eternals" gentlemen?

[So she smiles, giving a little bob of a bow before starting to walk and begin the search for where to return the cup, clipping her long-legged pace to match a more bipedal one- she had human parents, she's used to it.]

The crowds here are so much bigger than the ones in my world... even on a festival day in the border checkpoint town.

[ the change in her own pace is appreciated, but not at all necessary. six falls in step with her without needing to adjust at all, lightfooted and brisk as he always is. every step he takes feels like it has conviction, with purpose; this one is really determined to accompany her until the mug is all but returned (or tossed away).

he does, however, huff a tiny bit at her remark. ]

Not all. There are a few who are questionable... [ one person in particular comes to mind, all jokes and premade smiles that never fail to irritate the hell out of six. ] However, most are gracious and kind in their own way.

[ that's the nicest way he'll ever put it. ]

... Smaller crowds mean more chances for peace and quiet, does it not?

Well, that's true. I like it most of the time, but... a festival every now and then is nice. Maybe just not this crowded.

[He keeps up a nice pace for a two-legged... Erune! (Erune, she'll remember, because she really wishes people would remember jinba instead of calling her a "centaur".)

Maybe Erune's liked peace and quiet? Or just Six? Or-]

And... what is an Eternal, anyway? Sorry, maybe it's something everyone knows in your world...

I suppose. [ six could only shrug his shoulders. ] I have never been too fond of festivities... I am better off in the shadows, where I belong.

[ it was really only a matter of time before he injected his edgelord personality into this conversation anyway. still, he acts like it's the most normal thing to say and continues talking. ]

The Eternals are composed of ten individuals who are the strongest at their weapon of choice. Our leader likes to say we are meant to protect the Phantagrande skydom from its enemies, but it would be more accurate to call us a group of ruffians.

[ a beat, and then it's followed by a sigh. someone still isn't sold on this whole eternals business. ]

It is not something you would know unless you're from my world, as you say. No need for apologies.

[He says it so normally that she almost misses what a ridiculous ting it is he says, "better in the shadows where he belongs", hung up instead on trying to figure out what the ten weapons were. Were there even ten types of weapons? Katana, wakizashi, short dagger, spear, ax, bow and arrow... okay, that was six...]

Well, are you protecting people... ? "Ruffian" makes it sound kind of like you're thieves...

[Or maybe they were, with that shadow line? Except he didn't strike her as a criminal so much, even though she knows she'd been accused of being too trusting or too naive in the past.]

That's not why you're better in the shadows, is it?

That is essentially the nature of our missions, yes.

[ to protect those who cannot protect themselves. the right the many things that were wrong in their world. his leader has always been such an optimistic idealist, but even six cannot deny him the truth. ]

We are not thieves of any sort; however, most tend to see us as vigilantes due to the way we work.

[ he's saying too much but siete isn't around to stop him from divulging too many secrets. ]

That I was raised an assassin is a reason why. [ he pauses. ] Amongst other things.

Oh, I see...

[Vigilantes... she had heard some people here and there since she began her journey talk about justice, but coming as she did from a more rural village far from the centralized government of the shogunate... most justice she knew was more "vigilante" than it was organized...

A second too late, however, she realizes that she sort of just "oh, I see"'d the fact that he was raised an assassin. And that's definitely not "oh, I see" material. Pulling a bit of a double take, she stares back (and slightly down) at him with a rapid series of blinks, struggling for words.]

I mean- Not "I see"... I don't see... Because we just met...

[He said "raised an assassin" not "that I am an assassin", so... Probably alright? He didn't really give off a scary assassin vibe... you'd probably know that sort of thing if you felt it, right?]

[ six's ears turn towards her, and then his gaze follows, head titled slightly to the side. he would almost come across as curious if it weren't for the fact that he's just... staring back at her too. he's all but stopped moving ahead too, waiting for her to start moving again before he does.

(it's not like he has any idea where they're going anyway...) ]

I can clarify anything, if you want.

[ the only parts he has to keep a secret are anything regarding the specifics of the eternals' missions, so... ]

[She's really glad he has ears. She can't decide if they remind her more of a cat's or a fox's, but they're super helpful in her attempts to read his body language, a task hobbled greatly by... the scary looking metal mask he wears on his face. Still, she thinks he isn't offended... so,]

Are you... still an assassin now?

[Konoh can't help but start there, as simple as it was. As much as she thinks, a second later, that an active assassin probably wouldn't just admit to being one??? Jeez-]

No.

[ comes the swift answer, with barely any hesitation. she's staring at him right now so that's the perfect excuse to stare right back. it's easy enough to tell who's about to win this staring contest! (not that he's trying, or whatever...) ]

Is that concerning?

[ listen. when you've lived your entire life as a fighter, these types of things become more normalized as time passes. ]

[Phew! He says "no" and she looks a bit relieved almost immediately, followed then immediately by... a bit of embarrassment for being so obviously relieved. Honestly, she was easy to read from a mile away.]

Oh, no, just... I wouldn't know how to explain to my parents how became friends with an assassin. Or my husband, either, haha...

[Is she already calling this relationship a friendship? Maybe.]

Was it... I guess it was really strict growing up like that, though... right?

[She's imagining... something like a ninja's upbringing?]

[ underneath the mask, six must look so ridiculous; he's blinking wildly out of surprise over what she just said. friends. she'd mentioned becoming friends— but that can't be right, there's no way someone like him is worthy of that. if only she can see the look on his face, because he's thinking hard about what this could mean, but then again, maybe his prolonged silence is a good enough indicator.

in the end, he doesn't even address it. his gaze is now averted, finding the nearest wall infinitely more interesting. ]

It was isolating.

[ everyone who's ever heard of the karm clan would know; it's no secret, so he sees no point in holding back. the way he speaks makes it all seem so normal despite how terrible it is. ]

I was able to learn all of my clan's techniques when I was young, but I... They didn't approve of how strong I was.

["Isolating", he says, and Konoha's brow furrows a bit in sympathetic reaction, because that sounded like an even stronger word than "lonely". To her, anyway. Not that she imagined "raised as an assassin" to be anything sunny, but...]

What do you mean they didn't like how strong you were? Isn't being strong a good thing?

[She certainly wasn't. Not in that way, at any rate, in the way of warriors and fighting. Didn't regret being weak... But she knew that was a luxury not afforded to everyone.

Probably not to people raised as assassins, for sure.]

[ six falls silent yet again as he contemplates his answer. this time, his gaze is diverted to the ground, as if it holds the key to stringing words together. it doesn't at all, but he doesn't keep his eyes away from it. when he finally speaks, his voice just sounds so far away— ]

I'm not quite certain. I was never given the chance to ask.

[ not even his own father's journal holds the answer to that, no matter how many times he read it over and over. ]

They simply called me a monster and left it at that. [ ... ] I suppose it does not matter so much anymore. It's all in the past, after all.

[He says it so matter-of-factly that Konoha doesn't quite feel like they're even talking about such a serious topic, her brow still furrowed slightly as she looks for... everything but his facial expression in attempt to read where she should and should not tread.]

Well... I don't want to slander someone I don't know by calling them a liar or anything, but...

[But her gaze falls to the cup of half-eaten mousse. Parents were supposed to love their children, and protect them... To hold them, just like the babe in her part of the Firialia vision, and keep them safe. Raise them right... not into assassins who thought they might be monsters. Mind made up, she finally points to the cup as evidence.]

But this said you want to protect people... and "monsters" don't do stuff like that, so... You're probably just really strong!

[ his gaze follows hers until it settles back on the half-eaten mousse, remembering the way it revealed his innermost desire out in the open. it was the same wish he made when his comrades asked why he sought out strength, why he wanted to become so powerful that he would be strong enough to take down nine others who were on the same level as he is— all because he wanted to protect the ones who trusted him enough to see past the darkness, the guilt, and the regret.

konoha is right here telling him the same thing, and maybe, just maybe, one day he'll start believing it. ]

You may be right, perhaps. It is not the first time I have been told the same thing.

[ even so, the past is still a part of him, and when it's so deeply engraved into his own soul, it's not so easy to shake it off entirely. ]

Regardless, we should get back to the task at hand.

[ he doesn't mean to change the topic so quickly, but it's not like he really knows what to say anymore. still, he no longer sounds as lost as he did just a few moments ago, feeling lighter compared to almost suffocating under the weight of his own thoughts. ]

[Konoha might have already called them "friends", but she's not that naive. They had just met, so she's glad to hear that she wasn't the first person to say so. Not only because that would be sad, but. Because it was better to hear from people you knew longer, trusted more.

But at the very least... his voice sounded a little different. That's a start!]

Ehe, sorry- I'm such a busybody, everyone says so...

[She gets it from her mother. Well, adopted mother, but it was basically the same when she had no memory of her actual parents, an armless broodmare and an escaped stud dead before she was old enough to remember anything but snatches of sound and impression of warmth.]

Do you remember what the person who gave this to you looked like? Some of the Prismal people have kind of distinctive markings, like when people get the moonblessings...

[He was new, wasn't he? Or- newish?]

Which one of those are you? Do you know?

[ six could only shake his head. ]

No need. The sentiment is... appreciated.

[ it's hard to say that with a lot of conviction, but it's close enough for it to count. this will likely be a concept he'll struggle with for quite some time so at least he's lucky to have enough busybodies in his life. the skies know he certainly needs them. ]

As for the one who passed it on to me, I recall they have ears like mine but dipped in black. [ the rest of the features he describes seems like it belongs to someone with a cordis moonblessing! anything else he remembers are things like clothes, distinct markings - like a mole underneath their eye, etcetera. ] I am not so sure there is a way to find out what moonblessing I am just yet.

[ he's heard about them— from the scientists, mostly. ]

Unless I am just unaware of it—?

▶ TDM .010

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how is she... so cute..............

the same way he's so edgelord, bless

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