prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .011

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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. 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.

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On Iris

[ Waking up in an utterly alien environment with his pack, sword, and clothes has been one of the most unnerving situations in his life. You'd think in the last, say, two decades, he'd have become used to waking up with little recollection of how he got somewhere following any particularly interesting drinking binge, but considering his last recollection is of claws tearing into his chest, he'll take not understanding why he woke up in a rocky land strewn with more crystal than he's ever seen in his whole storm-struck life.

He made quick work of tying up his pack for four-footed travel, his sword and clothes bundled and tied onto the pack he's been carrying over his back like a pack animal, ears pricked, nose to the ground as he followed older scents back to the location he's since been observing the last few hours.

Whatever this place is, he can recognise that series of buildings looking likewise unfamiliar in architecture and construction materials is some sort of fort or port, if the heart-stopping flying behemoths that depart from nearby are related. He'd be tempted to wonder if they weren't the long lost dragons of lore if they in any way matched those descriptions, but they're not lithe creatures of the air; they're sleek, bulky, faintly ship-like constructions, and he has no idea what to make of them.

What he does know is he needs information, and he needs the ability to beat a fast retreat. Which means this: tucking his pack, clothes, and sword away behind a thicker crystal cluster, he wills the shift from wolf to human. Then he waits to casually, obviously, and with no shame approach someone who's come out from the center, naked as the day he was born, showing something of a tan in gradation that only implies he wears some kind of covering for his netheregions when out under the sun more often than not, little excess hair outside of the thatch at the apex of his thighs, and a bright, cheery grin. He's well muscled, in a manner consistent with someone who lives by the strength of their sword arms, and not overly tall, standing all of a little over five and a half feet barefoot. ]

Fair weather to you, friend! I find myself in a bit of a predicament. Would you mind terribly telling me where exactly we are?

Lucky Tail

What a truly interesting festival game. I've never seen something quite as delightful and absurd. Say, [ he says, turning your way, having witnessed the tail end of the prior round of this run through by a couple who has collapsed laughing at the end, one covered in slime, but both a bit richer than they started in both experience and Demichroma, ] care to be the blind, or the one leading them?

[ He smiles, gesturing toward the rat prismal registering contestants for the various stages. ]

Champagne Supernova in the Sky

[ Even if his ability to metabolise alcohol is ridiculous, the pleasant effects of the not-quite intoxication leaves him humming and feeling like his nerves are temporarily not on fire with every jangling sound, jarring light, incomprehensible magical construct this city is littered with. Caihong is vaguely familiar, in that with its choice in construction it holds closer to cities and towns he's wandered through over the years. No exact match to any one place, but comfortingly less obsessed with what is overwhelmingly new, thus much more comfortable.

With his pleasant buzz of almost intoxication, he's out here tonight on the colourful streets of Caihong looking for a good time, and a willing partner. Prismal, Moonblessed, he really doesn't much notice unless the arm he slips around a waist or someone's shoulders thrums with a hint to burst of Moonlacing, and then he does laugh, a deep sort of chuckle that rises up from his chest, tipsy good cheer. ]

Oh, but isn't that delightful.

[ Male, female, both, neither, human-like or decidedly not, he's a man who wholeheartedly enjoys the physical pleasures in life... and he'll press a kiss to whatever's available (shoulder, cheek, lips, knuckles, a collarbone) when he asks, voice slightly husky: ]

Care to find out just how far delightful goes?

[ Please, smack him if you want, he deserves it as much as he'd love any sort of yes to his particularly forward request for companionship tonight. ]

wildcard

[ tag me in with any wildcard you desire! a few notes, since he's an oc: he's a walking, natural magical battery for those sensitive to such things; he's not human, and won't read as human to people sensitive to those kinds of things; he's a terrible flirt who will sleep with anyone showing active interest and has no moral quandries about age due to his life as a whole, though for my sake i'd prefer to avoid anything beyond flirting and cuddling with those under 18; and he's 34! ]

[Not a smack, but how about an elbow to the gut? Not hard enough to result in an evacuation of all that alcohol and food but definitely enough to get the point across. The redhead's eyebrow was visibly twitching, and while being hit on wasn't something that generally annoyed her, getting it from someone who she met .5 seconds ago by an unexpected embrace wasn't her ideal way of it happening.]

Either slow down or my staff is going to get very friendly with your skull.

[ With a laugh after an exaggerated exclamation of pain, he withdraws his embrace and holds up his hands, showing her his palms. He doesn't guard his stomach overmuch, the pain a passing thing, but it's still played up for effect. See, he acknowledges his wrongs. Peace, peace, he comes unarmed!

Not really true in various ways, but as far as intentions, true enough. ]

Here I was getting to like the state of my skull tonight. Could stand to be a bit fuzzier though.

[ Mimicking lifting a mug of something or another, it's more a nod to the drinking that's been going around. ]

Has your lovely self been enjoying the festivities?

[The dramatics were obviously not at all necessary, but it earns an amused smile from the woman regardless. At least he took it in stride.

Ana wasn't often prone to over drinking, but that wasn't to say she couldn't hold her alcohol or hadn't considered going into a blissful state of intoxication over being dragged to this place against her will.

She was trying to restrain herself, though.

Trying.]

Illyana. [The least he can do is get her name before diving head first into full blown flirting again.] It feels a bit like an attempt to placate us after dragging us to some strange planet against our will. ... it is pretty, though.

[ ...Why has Shi Qingxuan seen so many dicks here without trying?!

Shi Qingxuan stares, taken aback, and, choosing not to analyze the finer points of another man's nude body, tries to tell himself that there's absolutely a normal reason for this, like maybe he was in the bath before waking up here. Something like that.

And with that excuse in mind, he pulls off his winter cloak and wastes no time in wrapping it around the other man's shoulders. Iris isn't particularly cold, and seeing another man naked isn't something he's scandalized by, but sir, please, you're in public... ]

Of course! This is the moon Iris.

[ What a solid explanation! Once he says this, he looks around them, searching for something- ]

There are usually people who come and find people to get them accommodated. They must have missed you.

[ Somehow. He waves a dismissive hand. ]

Well, then I suppose I'll have to do!

[ There's something to be said for the fact that answer is absolute nonsense, followed by the man being quite kind and offering him a cloak without a word. Licyn's tense for the moment, ready to duck down and use the very material of the cloak as a weapon in and of its own right, but the man seems more preoccupied by modesty or a sense of sympathy instead of one that tips off his fighting instincts.

Thus he smiles, a touch droll. ]

So it seems. [ Or he's been dodging them all. Who trusts any storm-driven stranger who stumbles across their doorstoop? Nevermind that he hasn't had a consistent one of those the past twenty years and then some, but he's not the sort who finds those meetings arranged by others to be to his preferences.

What is, however, is to snake a hand back out of the cloak he's been gifted with for now and capture one of this handsome young man's hands. There's a spark that goes along with it, one that nearly has him dropping hands again, the smile on his face freezing for a second. Magic? Was this some searing storm-cursed magic going on? It doesn't smell right, doesn't even feel like proper magic, but that warmth isn't simply body heat. ]

... A more lovely guide a man couldn't ask for if he tried. Please, tell me more. An Iris moon? You don't mean to say we're in the sky.

[you know, this is a reminder that Zelgadis could be worse off, despite being stuck in a strange, hostile environment. He could be buck naked and without his sword or magic or supplies.]

[Granted, Zelgadis's clothing fared worse against sharp crystals than his stony skin, but it was the principle of the matter.]

[He'd finally found some measure of civilization and was considering if he should approach it, but now he had this strange nudist coming up to him.]

I don't know, but this is the first sign of people I've seen for... probably days.

[ Hey, if you're buck naked, you can at least own it. This is a weapon in and of itself!

Zelgadis, however, looks absolutely magic blighted. Entirely cursed. What is searing happening with his skin and face? Licyn blinks, but his smile doesn't change. His guard doesn't relax, and with his escape avenues still clear. he's fairly confident in his ability to leave at a moment's notice.

Now he and this stranger in a strange land are peering upon... whatever complex it is not so far off. ]

Much the same can be said by me. There've been creatures that almost look familiar, the sort I might find hunting in the mountains, if any of them ran around with pretty rocks growing out of their skins.

[ He's not been impressed by the crystal aspects of the animals. This is absolutely influenced by his sense of right and natural in the world, and with a lazy glance at his companion of the moment, he adds: ]

It looks much better on you.

[ ... The whole... stony thing. But honestly, this person doesn't glitter and catch the light, which plays havoc with his senses. ]

[his hair is a bit shiny but more metallic. And Zelgadis also tends to wear a hooded cloak, which mutes that]

Gee, thanks.

[The attempt at a compliment fell flat; Zelgadis recognized the guy might well assume he was a local to match the landscape. Wherever here was.]

Given where I come from, there's a decided lack of rock-based animals either, I have to assume neither of us are natives here.

[Which leaves the question open as to why Zelgadis looks the way he does; Zelgadis is just going to leave that hanging]

[ The replica had expected the outcome of his sacrifice to be a little more permanent. The unknown was still the unknown and he was prepared, knowing that he had left behind a way to finally fulfill his promise to one very special person. That he had finally made something out of his mediocre existence as a replica. Out of anything he could have expected, he didn't anticipate waking to the sensation of crystals pricking his skin on all sides with a physical body of his own to feel it with in the first place. Or... waking up at all.

Blinking slowly at the alien landscape once he finally got up, the first comment he could even consider making was a sleep-rusty: ]

What the heck?

[ An unoriginal response from an unoriginal copy.

It hadn't taken him long at all to realize he wasn't wearing so much as a stitch and after some alarmed glances around only to find that he was fortunately alone, he summoned his Darkness, letting it wrap his body in the dark armor he was more accustomed to. It meant that there was nothing to spare his modesty should he find himself incapable of calling on his powers or lost consciousness.

In the meantime it also means he's at least clothed, covered from chin to toes in that rubbery dark bodysuit with its peculiar tattered cloth around the back at hip level. This is also one heck of a way to meet someone for the first time, when a man comes striding out from behind a crystalline cluster.

The replica looks because that seems to be a thing that happens to everyone who accidentally sees what they didn't mean to see. The replica might have him on height, but when it comes to build they seem evenly matched. This unarmed man is someone who probably knows his way around a fight.

Shoulders rising and falling in an internal sigh of annoyance. This might as well happen. He starts to turn away, gloved fingers flicking his silver hair out of his eyes. ]

Figure it out yourself. I'm not your friend.

[ The replica is in the same boat, mostly, which may be why he stops to reconsider his reply. ]

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▶ TDM .011

licyn mansbane | oc | sanguis

Champagne

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Iris

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On Iris

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On Iris