prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .011

Entry tags:

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If there's one shining beacon that he vividly remembers from his brief stint here on Prismatica, it's probably Angela. They had shared quite a bit of time together, and from his perspective, most of the intimacy he indulged in was with her. Nevertheless, it's still hazy, like a dream threatening to disappear into nothingness when you wake up with a jolt.

He knows she's there, approaching him, but he wouldn't be able to say with confidence that he knew it was Angela herself. At least he's not on edge, his posture relaxed as she gets closer and once he can look over his shoulder comfortably to get a look at his curious bystander, his eyes widen in vague recognition. Her bright outfit stands out like a sunspot in the dreary world he's dredged up, despite its beautiful calm.

She felt like a dream, when he'd returned back to his own 'universe'. He had been convinced that he'd never see the neon planet and its pulled-in residents ever again and made it a point to try and forget it all.

"Angela."

It's said after quite a bit of pause, eyes searching her face and making sure he got the right name. It has been a few months, nearly a year, so it's only natural.

They did indeed, and she'd been heartbroken he'd disappeared; many people have, since she'd first arrived. Only one had ever prepared messages in case, but he had experienced his own losses. He knew better, and knew by then how this place functioned. Funny she'd just been showing her Prismagram to Josuke, and had to explain that, no, Henry was not her boyfriend, but he was someone she'd been fast friends with, who was very easy to be around. That he was kind to her and tried to take care of her in turn. He was one of her first positive ties in this place, and he holds a special place in her heart for that very reason.

She hasn't forgotten him. How could she? He helped her through her very first experience with the moons of this place, as well. Ten months later and she still sings his praises. Let a lady have a wee crush.

And it looks as though he hasn't forgotten her either. The recognition is there even just in the way he relaxes, and she remembers freckles on his shoulders and the warmth of his skin beneath her hands and the swish of his tail on the beach, the widening of his eyes that show her that familiar shade of blue— he hardly even has to say her name. (But he does get it right; good job sweetheart.)

She's brightening right up, teeth flashing in a smile that doesn't quit as she trots those last few steps up to him, already reaching for his face with both hands.

If she wasn't fearing this being some sort of illusion for the technology, she would have outright leapt at him. Best to check he's solid first.

"Henry...? It's really you?"

Even if it's a dream, this is a nice one, isn't it? She must have missed him after bringing him up and seeing his face again.

He is proud of himself for remembering, thank you Angela. It's not wholly surprising but at the same time, he didn't think he'd forget her so easily either. In response to her closing in, he turns to face her, stepping forward in an attempt to quickly bridge the gap between them. Not that there was much at this point.

Soft fingers brush against his jawline and his own hands automatically come up to rest on the back of hers. He's still searching her face, as if trying to decide to accept this reality again. Then again, it's not too difficult for him to get accustomed to strange situations (heck, he's done this once before) so it won't take him long.

"Of course it is."

Though not the type to outright hug someone, even if it's someone he was close to, he does attempt a warmer greeting by nuzzling into her hands. As if to convince her of his realness. He hasn't forgotten they're in an illusion machine, after all.

"I'm...surprised to see you're still here."

It's subtle, that one little step, but she recognizes it for what it is. He had been openly accepting of her affections and drank them up but had never really quite instigated them himself, before. It's show enough he wants closer, quicker, and once she's sure he's far more solid than the VR ever promised of them—

Is it any surprise they slip out from beneath his hands keeping hers in place to nuzzle soft palms to instead circle his neck? The man deserves a hug; she's missed him. One of her first friends in this place who was gone just as quickly. Her nails are in short brown hair and she's meeting him in that affection, now, with the rub of her cheek to his and the flattening of her front to him.

"I could say the same of you; I suppose I provide them all the chroma they could ever need. Though it seems to be at random, so I shouldn't joke about that. How are you...? It's been... Six, seven months."

And she's not letting go any time soon. Rather, she's turning to press a lingering kiss to his cheek before pressing back in, giving him a good little squeeze as her other hand soothes down between his shoulderblades, fond.

The warmth of her hands slide away from his face and around his neck, which in all honestly feels natural in this moment. He melds against her easily, though his hands hang in the air briefly before settling around her waist. He didn't think he did, but he's missed her too. He missed the feeling of being missed at all, a foreign emotion for sure.

He breathes in deep, not even realizing how his arms now fully encircle her body into a proper hug, not a sliver of air between them. She still smells faintly of vanilla and cloves, a pleasant scent that only reminds him of their previous times together. He smiles to himself, wondering how she'd been faring here...providing the place Chroma, as it were? He'll have to get reacquainted with these terms again.

"I've been well, I suppose. Better now than ever, believe it or not."

The kiss to the cheek is the little cherry on top, but she doesn't give him much room to respond in kind so he'll save that return gesture for another time. He's fine with savoring this embrace anyway, letting his chin rest on her shoulder. His hands drop and clasp at his wrists, hanging loosely around her middle now.

"Guess I could call this a needed little vacation."

Henry's always going to be wanted, and missed when he isn't around— it's a constant he can count on with her who sews her ties with others deep into the fibers of her being, and as someone who doesn't forget easily. And when he softens to fit against her the way she does him, they just steep in one another's presence for a long few moments, his chest rising and falling with a deep breath of her same perfume. She remembers his aftershave. Clean and sweet.

Just as he savors the embrace, Angela realizes how very silly it is. They're still in the simulator, but aren't they sitting adjacent to each other in the real world? This could be an actual embrace, with actual kisses, and it could be removed from a peaceful if dreary field of daisies to somewhere warmer, more intimate for their catch-up conversation. But Angela's always loved being held, and it's a difficult thing to want to split from, even if only for a few moments. She strokes through his hair for the space of a few slow passes, nails skimming gently off his nape as she hits his collar and starting anew with the weight of his head on her shoulder, hers tipping to his temple.

"Better now for being here, or better back home?"

There's a thoughtful hum tumbling on the heels of her last syllable, though, and she smiles through her next teasing remark: "Shouldn't we be continuing this in actual person? We can make it a real vacation."

And then she's definitely going to hop right up into his arms where he can easily smooch her right back.

"Dare I say, here? Fortunately, nobody from home would ever hear this."

Not that he thinks anyone would really care, save for his brother. Maybe. That's a pretty big maybe, too. If Travis had gone off to some distant universe to just be happy where he ends up, Henry certainly wouldn't give a damn. If the guy's alive and well, all the better for him, right?

It's difficult to think that they're not actually touching each other, that this is but a simulation. To think that a machine could recreate such visceral realism is wild on its own, and if he thought long and hard about it, he'd question reality altogether. He tries not to dwell on such a troubling and frankly, depressing thought.

Angela is here, in his arms and next to him all at once, and that's more than enough. He holds her against his body easily as she hops up, leaning forward for an affectionate kiss on the lips. Short but sweet.

"We certainly can, though I have to admit you're making it very difficult for me to pry away from this...arrangement."

And its then the illusion starts to flicker away. The flowers appear to close in on themselves as the already wash-out color whites out into nothing and closes in on them in an instant.

Edited 2020-01-18 06:33 (UTC)

"You may dare, of course. And if it's so difficult, you could have just not caught me."

It's playful, for how preposterous a suggestion it is. There's no reality where he wouldn't have caught her and they both know it. And while the sensations of this place are quite real, it doesn't feel absolute. The warmth is simulated, she can't quite make out the texture of his hands where she knows callouses would be snagging at her sweater. It's just that little bit of dissonance. She'll lower the bend of her legs that had her feet kicking up behind her in his hold, allowing him the ability to set her back down so they can signal to rise from the VR even as the scene about him closes up and fades.

It's like breaching the surface of the water after holding your breath. She 'wakes' with a start and awareness of different clothes than she'd just been 'wearing', removing the immersion headset and legs wobbly as she gets back to her feet too quickly, turning around and looking for him with the strange roundabout pods.

Angela always notices the little things. It's what kept her from finding the simulated reality correct, what has her nose catching on his aftershave, recalling the sharp sound of hard boot heels on the tile, and it's what cements reality for her. She finds her anchors in her senses as he climbs out of the other side, and she's waiting for him with her hands behind her back, curving forward and head tilted to await his steadiness.

The moment he's meeting her eyes and seems stable on his feet, she's going to leap right back into his arms, practically purring his name.

"Welcome back, handsome."

{ cont. here!♥ }

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

▶ TDM .011

WELL GOOD!!

FINE!! SWELL!!! catch her

arms out knees bent COME 2 HENRY

LEAPS!!!!

OOF jk ur light

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject