▶ TDM .011

[prismods]

plays hard to get

navigation ⬤ faq ⬤ reserves ⬤ world ⬤ moonblessings

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. After an hour or two of wandering through the crystal wilderness, a group of people find you worse for wear. They are the gallant Moon Knights from the planet of Prismatica. Because of the strange phenomena 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? — 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. You will then be escorted to the docks, and led onto a large transport vessel that makes frequent trips back and forth between the Iris moon and the planet. Faces onboard vary from both old and new Moonblessed as well as the local Prismals.

The next destination: Prismatica.

▶ There and Back Again
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  As a Remooning gift from the Lunar Scientia Headquarters, the dedicated team from the Amphoria Room has released their latest perfected technology: Amphoria Pods. These VR Pods, which can fit up to four people at a time, have been set up in the gaming hub within Level 1’s PrismaPlace. They allow users to upload sceneries of their world in order to create a realistic holographic landscape of their homes that others can access and play around with, granting everyone the means to relive past memories with their loved ones as well as interact with the bestiary of other worlds. The pods also use the same technology that enhanced the popular virtual game, League Match Action Online (LmaO), which means you’re liable to feel the chill of cold environments, the burning heat from boiling water, the hard slap of your ex-lover, or the biting sting of a stray wasp. All who use the Amphoria Pods for the first time this year will also receive a small amount of Chroma in case things get too real.

▶ God Save Us from the Queen
Level 1, PrismaPlace and Level 2, Greatmoon Groves | top

The first month of the year is packed with two of the most important winter events this season: Queen Elara’s birthday and the League Match Action Online (LmaO) PVP semi-finals. It just so happens that the Queen of Lunatia is also a huge LmaO fan. Coincidence? Definitely not! LmaO players and royal family fans alike can meet her at PrismaPlace, where she will be appearing in cosplay of her favorite hero, Ah-Kari, while holding a body pillow of Commander GareBear. You, too, can get an autograph or selfie with the birthday girl if you’re willing to fall in line! Her bodyguards will also be in LmaO cosplay, keeping the crowd under control during the long wait.

Queen Elara

Good day to you all! This may come as a surprise to our guests the Moonblessed, but I am a normal person despite my exalted position. Please do not think of me today as Queen Elara. Instead... my name is Ah-Kari, sorceress of the crystal! With my soul fan blades, through the darkness, I shall slice all who dare hurt my commander in twain!

But when she is not meeting and greeting...

Queen Elara

My comrades, we're going to make history today. We're going for a new record. Perhaps the highest kill counts or the fastest clear for this map — it matters not. We’ve practiced day and night for this tournament, so let us show everyone that we’re not to be taken lightly! Also, the livestream is going in the royal archive, so make your successors proud!!

... she will be furiously grinding her character and training her skills in LmaO in the hopes of qualifying for the finals. Spectators will see her bring her own team full of hapless palace attendants who are there to either serve as her practice match partners or provide support to the one-woman army that is Queen Elara.

PrismaPlace is packed with giant crowds, many of them also in cosplay. While the semi-finals are taking place, new and old LmaO players alike can participate in the game’s current campaign: players who form teams get an improved chance of spawning unique monsters as well as winning rare items and skins in those prized lootboxes! Teams can also try to clear the event’s story together, featuring an aerial battle fought on griffin-back, which is heavily inspired by the popular Lunatian epic, The Battle of Abraxas, a colorful and complex story about the conflict between two families fighting over the fictional land of griffins, Abraxas.

 A  Progression in the event requires acquiring a griffin mount and getting it ready for battle. You can lure a wild one to yourself with a special veggie pie on a fishing pole. Should the griffin reject the lure, your character will be caught in a wind gaol and can only break out with the help of other players. Should you succeed, raising the griffin is a tedious task that involves players training alongside their respective griffins, running laps with them, taking them to hunt monsters, and feeding them properly. Depending on their diet, the food you give them will affect the color of its plumage and their battle stats.

Or you can skip the hard work and simply moonlace with your teammates through all the progression bars and required materials to save time. Once finished, you’ll be able to battle one another through the thunderous aerial domain of Abraxas. Clearing the event will net you an event-exclusive skin inspired by the royal family’s shining celestial robes and a weapon skin of a body pillow with your favorite character, so do your best!

 B  In celebration of Queen Elara’s birthday, the office of the royal household is hosting a modest tea party in the Greatmoon Groves. Swiffy bots that are normally programmed to remind visitors to keep the groves clean are now playing a birthday jingle on repeat. For people who prefer to be away from the blinding neon lights and the thumping techno music of PrismaPlace, this is the ideal escape. Unlimited tea and cookies are being served!

The tea is a soft-colored lilac concoction made from Ehrysian tea leaves that are known to cause a huge spike of alertness and is popular to Moon Knights and office workers with long night shifts as well as gamers for those all-night grinding sessions. The assorted cookies have either Ah-Kari or Commander GareBear printed on them. In case it isn't obvious yet, both are the birthday girl’s favorite LmaO characters.

Any Moonblessed looking for extra income is welcome to be royal attendants for the day; the hours are paid by Demichroma. They must be properly dressed up as maids or butlers (outfits provided by the royal household) as they serve tables.

▶ Say Cheese
Level 3, Caihong | top

Meanwhile, Caihong is in the midst of Remooning festivities in celebration of the new year, and merriment usually lasts a fortnight, filled with fireworks in the sky. Upon entering the district, beautiful Prismals with rat ears and tails greet you with a Happy Remooning and eagerly tug you along to join in.

Those welcomed will receive a pack of multi-colored sparklers, mooncakes topped with cheese, and a glowing drink called Champagne Supernova, poured in a thin glass in your hand. If you are over eighteen, the rat Prismals will ask if you prefer your drink with a kick. If you say yes, then they will add flavorful ice that causes extreme intoxication and might leave you to be susceptible to all levels of suggestion. Saying no (or if you’re under 18) will simply leave it as a sweet drink.

 A  One of the party games being played by the locals is called Lucky Tail, which is basically pinning the tail on the holographic rat stand-in — with a twist, it must be played with a partner! Another participant will blindfold you, spin you around, then push you forward. The stand-in is located at the end of unsteady elevated platforms forming a maze, filled to the brim with distracting objects underneath. They’re long, they’re thick, and they’re vibrating furiously in an attempt to knock you off the platforms.

Your partner must guide you by voice to successfully navigate through the maze! The game is rigged with various mechanisms, so stepping on specific platforms will activate a number of traps against you or your partner: machines that may tickle, drop colorful slime, or cause the platform to repetitively spin, and who knows what else?

Should you manage to get through the obstacle course and pin the tail successfully, you and your partner will win copious amounts of Demichroma, courtesy of Buwan from Buwan’s Stop.

 B  Another attraction is a fun magic glamour booth known for its face or body swap features. The booth staff, clad in their festive rat paraphernalia, will encourage you and your friends to take aesthetic shots using an illusion generator. The effects last an hour. Photographed images can be instantly uploaded and shared in Prismagram. New year, new you! Why not take the chance to celebrate this momentous occasion in a unique fashion? It’s all in good humor.

There are two buttons to press: (A) CUSTOM or (B) RANDOM. Pressing A will allow participants to customize their desired effects. Pressing B will cause the illusion magic to randomly rearrange participants in questionable positions, new outfits (or lack thereof), and you may even come out of the booth looking like your best friend or your worst rival. The possibilities are endless!

▶ 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

[attachments]

Thank you, that would be appreciated Vincent.

[The idea of suggesting her living together with him rises to the tip of her tongue... but then she decides to dismiss it. Given... a lot of things that have been going on, it might be best that they both have their own space to call their own, for now. Still...]

Perhaps I'll get lucky and be given a place close to yours. Maybe we'll even be neighbors here.

[Because that's totally not stressful for Vincent to imagine, I'm sure.]

It was fantastic. Such a great part.

[burnt_offering]

If it took that much pie to get the taste out... [Ace can't remember the last time he willing ate pie, especially cherry. It's not the flavor at all that's the problem. He remembers once really liking it. But he can't eat food savored so happily now by someone he hates.] Fish is good a lot of ways. But fish coffee is something that never needs to happen again. Coffee should taste like coffee, that's just how it is.

[Or like coffee and cream, or coffee and flavorings, but Ace isn't going to go into details right now. He's too focused on the idea that fish coffee existed somewhere. And is mildly horrified at the idea still.]

It won't take too much longer now. It's pretty close. Which is good, 'cause I'm starving. [Ace is usually starving, honestly. He eats like a monster, and his abilities consume so much.]

[yakiniku]

It isn't overtly bad news, but it also is very easily not good news either. Hanzo would much rather be too drunk to consider the ways that might have been difficult, but with the vivid memory of Dorian coming to his rescue after foolish decisions made during sanguis, the archer is not thrilled at all.

He sighs as he steps closer again to draw Dorian nearer, dropping his head onto the mage's shoulder for a moment. "Please do not do anything stupid. I would rather you not end up similarly to the time you helped me." Although that hadn't been the only time the mage had come to his rescue, though it was the one he associated with his worst traits during the Sanguis moon cycle.

"I have only just gotten you back, and having to avoid you several days per month is going to be an annoyance."

i saw you got in congrats!!

[swordfighting]

Agreed. I'm sure someone will be able to help us sort it out.

[ a strange child he might have been, but the answer makes her smile all the same. nibbling on the other half of the queen's cracker, she speaks again. ]

I was more the type to make them fight each other, and the loser became the first snack... I did it with my brother's crackers as well, too.

[ she stole them. ]

But onto the device - I've at least figured out the map function a bit.

[ she pokes at the device until it displays her a 3d holographic map, which she spins with a little smug look. her location is where its centered, a red blip. ]

[silkeared]

Kaz?

[How could he forget a voice like that? It pierces through his blindness and his vertigo, sticking him still to the spot. It's tempting to try and swing around to locate the voice, but that's just going to get him even more lost. He's torn, he finds, between being relieved and terribly full of anxiety. On one hand, if anyone's going to get him through something like this, it's Kaz Brekker. And Kaz is his friend, strange as their relationship is. He trusts him fully, the way a follower is meant to trust their leader.

But also, it's Kaz. It's not like he's going to let out a holler of joy. This is going to be incredibly stressful.]

If nothing else, it has a sense of humor, I guess. What, exactly, is waiting under my feet? Do I even want to know?

Thank you! Do you want to make this game canon?

[intulpable]

[he laughs a bit more at the anecdote - it's very telling as to certain aspects of her personality, and he makes silent note of it. he was about to ask how she decided who won, when she pulls up the map.]

Oh, it spins? That's amazing. I've never seen anything like it...

[he reaches tentatively into the holograph and pokes the blip, watching the way the projection lines warp and twist around the curves of his hand and wrist before leaving it alone and leaning in to look at the device itself more closely]

How did you manipulate it like that?

The llama is my favorite though XD

[intulpable]

Good! Maybe I'll see if they've got a good fried fish sandwich. All this talk about fish is making me want some, myself. Do you know what a haddock is, Ace? I'd love something that tastes like a nice, light, crisp haddock.

[he takes on an almost dreamy look as he says it, as though he can already picture and taste the sandwich in question.]

And french fried potatoes. Yes sir, that seems like just the ticket...

[ketterdamn]

Your shoe soles. And a regular floor, for about—

[ He tilts his head, gauging the distance. ] —three feet, dead ahead.

[ Kaz crosses at least two of those, checking the next platform and calculating the best path. The weird fuzzy one? And maybe the one to the right, afterwards, that looks normal but it could have some sort of trap. Weird goop? He could swear he saw someone earlier walking out covered in a viscous slime.

All at once, he's glad he isn't the one having to trust Wylan to lead him through. Not because he distrusts Wylan, but....well, he's working on some issues in general. ]

[freshtilapia]

[ It's not everyday you meet an incredibly charismatic half-orc. But he's not the only one with a high Charisma score. Fish is charmed, though. ]

Many of them, especially those that dwell in the sea, are more aggressive in their aquatic features, as you put it. I had a childhood friend in another surface-dwelling tribe... I'd come along on the trading boats to see him. The coloration of his tribe was very different from ours: more like a dull orange-brown, but lovely green eyes. The shape of their ear fins were different, too. A little more like a lion fish, if you've ever seen one. Then there were others that were blues... greens... sometimes with streaks of red like the shade I sport.

[silkeared]

[The sass, he didn't particularly miss. But, then, it has been rubbing off on him, so maybe there's a piece of him that's glad for the familiarity. Wylan takes a breath, calming his nerves.]

Dead ahead, got it.

[Whatever that buzzing noise is, he'll just have to push it to the back of his mind. Instead, he places one foot in front of the other, heel to toe. One, two, three, until he feels the terrain beneath him change. In a way, not being able to see is good. It's less distracting. He can focus on feelings and sounds and Kaz' instructions.]

What next?

[onoir]

[ Diarmuid, forever trying to prove that he can't be bullied, never to realize that his attempts are what makes people bully him more. a self-fulfilling prophecy.

though... well. Diarmuid can't say that he knows much about Gilgamesh at all (beyond the stiflingly blinding confidence, the ease with which he wears his oppressive nobility), but the vague promise of something or other in the future seems... important to note, coming from a guy like him.

a pause, and Diarmuid opens his mouth again. considers his words carefully. ] ...What are you implying? [ listen, you can't expect him to anticipate puppy ears and tails in his near future....... ] Despite the circumstances of our summoning, I've been told that this place is more peaceful than not.

wheeze

[zutsuki]

[He does ramble a bit, especially when he's trying to diffuse something that could be misunderstood. He's snapped out of it pretty easily when he's voluntold to help her cook, and he goes a little pink in the case.]

Um, well I'm a coal burner's son, so I'm pretty okay at it! I've never made a pie for a griffin before, though.

[zutsuki]

It's okay, you certainly can't know when you're in the same position as I am.

[zutsuki]

That's really violent? Please don't.

[Something to that effect, yeah. And it's more like smelling the air than seeing it, he's depending on his other senses while blindfolded. And he has a weird freakish sense of smell.]

pat pat

[lambentlightning]

[coal burner's...? maybe they were still popular in the rural part of the world. cooking and coal burning are two different things but

that's not that point. the point! is!!]

Me either but you won't be able to do something at all if you don't try it once. Come on.

[Asuna grabs his wrist and starts tugging him in the direction of civilization and out of griffin field.]

You too, Takeo!

[she's bossy.]

[hot_handed]

Don't die and I won't have to. But you're going to die.

[And the next section looks bland enough, which makes his job boring. He just about stops paying attention when the platform starts vibrating violently.]

I'll kill it!!!

[He splays out both hands, the sharp sweet scent of nitroglycerin being ignited Tanjiro's warning.]

I'm down for it! Alisaie will love having someone to bug about tech

[swordfighting]

[ she watches as well, curious. admittedly, she's watched other people play with tech that looks like this before - she's just never done it herself.

when he asks how she manipulated it, she gives a light shrug. ]

I've seen people use very old contraptions back home just by touching. This wouldn't respond to me at first, but it seems to respond to specific gestures. Like -

[ she waves her hand to the right, sending the map turning. then she raises her other hand and puts two fingers together, pulling them apart and making it zoom in on her dot. ]

- so. Admittedly, I picked that last one up watching others.

[aheroipray]

[ A long beat - ]

Alright, alright. Dinner is at 7:30PM sharp. Lunch is at noon. Breakfast we usually take whenever we get up so you might have to make your own there, but at least have lunch or dinner with us.

[aheroipray]

[ Ah... he wasn't getting it, was he...? ]

No, I most certainly could. I never learned to swim. Fall out of a fishing boat too many times with no one to save you and you start panicking around wa -

[ Her own dry words are cut off when she feels the wobble of the platform, and she immediately casts Shukuchi to teleport backwards. She hears a whistle and a voice call 'first penalty!' and flinches.

Uhoh. ]

Apologies!

[byleth]

[ At least that takes care of Ashe's probable first question but also opens the door to so many more. Up until now, at least the Blue Lions had remembered him as male, so he wonders if there are more alternate timelines than he had initially thought. ]

I'm fine. We've been here for some months. We've had time to acclimate.

[ It had all taken some time getting used to what with the other house leaders claiming he had joined them instead... and usually while sporting a curvier physique. On top of that, there had been the issue of growing animal parts and experiencing other strange side-effects from the moon cycles. Also ghosts, savage geese, a number of other unusual threats... ]

Dimitri, Sylvain, and Felix are here from your original house.

[ He still doesn't know if Ashe remained with them, though in his own memories he had been very much loyal to Dimitri in spite of the young king's recent troubles. ]

What is the last thing you remember before coming here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw9bpuJRoyU My favorite

[burnt_offering]

I could go for some fish too. They've got some good sushi here, but I don't remember the last time I had any haddock. Never had it in a sandwich, either. So that means I gotta try it now!

[Ace looks so thrilled, eyes bright at the idea of eating a fish sandwich. The guy is food motivated, and always hungry.] Yeah, I think we can find it there. And if we can't, I'll show you somewhere else that does.

[Someone coming close isn't paying attention to the direction Ace is moving, and while he seems to be able to step around people with a dancer's grace, they're just fated to run into him. It looks like they're going to hit him, but Ace burns away at the shoulder and chest and hip, turning into fire in the area that they were close to making contact with. The fire doesn't burn, and the person startles away dazed but none the worse for wear. And the massive fire lined hole on Ace closes back up like it was never there.] Oops. Guess I should walk beside you after that.

\o/

[intulpable]

[his jaw legitimately drops at the pinch-zoom, even though he recovers quickly]

That's fascinating! Responding to gestures when you aren't even touching the device itself...! Boy, this little gadget really is something. I can't wait to find out what else it can do. I've seen other people using it like a camera, too ... all of that, in this one little thing, smaller than a stack of index cards.

[he shakes his head, regarding it with wonder, but still hasn't forgotten his tea. he takes another drink, not wanting it to go cold while they're both learning. not only that, but whatever particular ingredient in the tea that makes people alert is starting to kick in. every detail of the map seems to grow sharper the longer he looks at it]

It makes you wonder what else this place has in store for us, doesn't it?

That whole sequence and the one in the S2 finale are so epic *_*

[intulpable]

You know, of all the fuss people make over sushi, I've never had it. Could never get past the fact of it all being raw. I got sick a lot as a kid, so - I try to avoid things that might make me ill as much as possible. ... The fish coffee was definitely a fluke.

[look at them, two food-motivated dudes on a mission. it's a good time for Cooper, absolutely, and he feels like this is just one more way fate has shown its hand to him, just as it always seems to when he needs it. life is a strange, intricate thing, and nothing is random. he's convinced, and it never ceases to make him happy, even when things are strange as they seem to be today]

Sounds like a plan. How long have you been here, Ace? You seem to kn--

[and then the near-collision happens, and Ace becomes fire, and not fire, and himself, and Cooper looks at him as though he's seen a ghost. not a frightening ghost, mind you, just something strange and unexpected and momentous. meaningful. when he first arrived, he had thought it was the Black Lodge, but the Prismals on the moon had insisted it wasn't. now, seeing Ace thus transmogrified, he's not so sure he wasn't right in the first place. he speaks without really thinking about it, his voice scarcely above a whisper]

Fire, walk with me.

[sterilize]

( she gives an apologetic, albeit understanding nod of her head — of course, calling wen chao cruel is a bit of an understatement, but just because she knew how to navigate his mood swings at the worst of times doesn't mean everyone else was quite as fortunate. that, and wei wuxian has an uncanny ability to get on everyone's nerves in record time. )

They're quite forgivable. You have to work hard to stop them from growing.

( she doesn't look at him while she busies herself with the next stalk, letting zixuan clear the area from her this time. )

I've only arrived a few days ago, actually. It's quite ... jarring, isn't it? ( she gives a gesture around to the artificial world they find themselves in, sighing almost ... sadly. ) I've spent most of my time in these fake worlds, too. ( a small smile ) I suppose I miss home. Have you been fitting in nicely, Sect Leader?

[queenofminiskirts]

[Telling her not to use her powers at all is like telling someone to walk on one leg only or to not use one of their arms. She can do it with great concentration but it's as natural as breathing to make use of it.

Also...that answer. Anyone who insists they aren't lonely like that are clearly the sort who does feel lonely.

Still. she won't call him out (today). Instead, she waves him off.]

I'll see you around!

[And she stays there to watch him until he disappears before her smile disappears for a moment. Well, then. Time to figure out what's going on, she supposes. Then she turns towards the hospital and walks in without further hesitation.]