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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[Haru has poked her head in just in time to find a wolf poking their head out in reply. Namely one particular wolf with fluffy fur and big blue eyes.]

Oh! It's you! Um--

[Wait, the joke hits her now. Her ears perk forward.]

I don't usually eat visitors, no.

[Leave it to Haru to run into one of two weirdo wolves. But, Haru will admit, it is good to see Juno. She's probably one of the few females from Cherryton she's been happy talking to.]

Usually, huh? [Haru laughs at that, holding her hands up.] Sorry, don't take this the wrong way but I was not expecting to see you here.

[Guess I won't be rooming here...]

[It's not like she does take offense or the comment hurts or anything but Juno still puffs out her cheeks in just a hint of a pout.]

It wasn't like I was expecting you here either.

[To say she's been skirting around Haru since their one encounter is an understatement. She's not upset over Legosi or any such thing given her interest in Louis now but it still seems like a wise idea to just avoid the rabbit before she gets as mixed up with her as the two men have.

She probably ought to bid her a good day then and set about avoiding her here too but... well. The pout drains off of Juno's face after a moment and she tilts her head just a little. It wasn't so long ago, just a few weeks in fact, when Juno was brand new and confused. And even if she and Haru aren't precisely the closest of friends, she doesn't just want to leave her in this big new place alone.

Juno blames it squarely on that canine helping instinct before she asks:]

Did you just arrive?

[Then she realizes they're just lingering at the front door. And even in her worst of tempers Juno still falls into step with being polite.]

Do you want to come inside? There isn't much in here besides the basics but I do have tea if you're interested.

[Haru's still not in the know about the possibility of different timelines or people being from the past. As far as she's aware, besides that one time she was being chased down the hall for no reason, there's no bad blood between her and this wolf. Not to say she feels entirely comfortable around Juno but...

Well, she's as comfortable as her instincts allow.]

Then I guess we're on the same page.

[Scratching her cheek, completely unaware of what Juno must be feeling beyond the childish & cute pout, she makes a considering noise, thinking first on Juno asking her if she just arrived, which implies she's been here longer, and then on the offer for some tea.

After a moment, she perks up, moving past Juno into the apartment.]

Sure! I could actually use a pick-me-up. I did just get here, after all.

[And she's going to hoist herself up on a chair that's near a table. Wherever she assumes she'll be served a drink.

Probably going to need a bit of booster seat, to be honest...]

[She's such a brazen rabbit. Juno can't say she's stunned that she just plops down (up?) in a seat, not after watching her try to wrestle a box off a shelf once.

And yet there Juno goes, moving about to bring tea and silently a plump pillow from what she has of a living room so far. Without much Chroma yet beyond what Ocelot hefted upon her Juno is mostly relegated to a spartan and rather drab apartment until she can earn more for upgrading and decorating.

Judging on the frilly, ruffled and overall terribly girly pillows (including the one offered to Haru) plopped on the couch visible from the small kitchenette, it's safe to say that whatever design she does end up with will be kinda cutesy regardless.]

It is a little much, isn't it? It was for me too at first.

[So many new scents.

At least the tea Juno brings is warm to combat the cold still lingering outside. And it has the bonus of being in a smaller mug too. Granted Lunatia doesn't exactly have different equipment for small herbivores and such but it seems Juno has at least tried to have a few different sizes either way. You never know who might visit, yeah?]

Edited 2020-01-09 23:35 (UTC)

[The rabbit opts to kneel on her seat, elbows on the table and chin resting on her hands as she watches Juno move about the apartment. The pillow she takes gladly, and the rather cutesy style of what is in the apartment gives a lot of tells that Haru already suspected about this wolf.

A cute girly elegance. Cutesy, yes, but in a way that Haru thinks suits Juno and is pulled off in a way that only a pretty wolf could. She can't even compare it to her own style of cute, which always seems to come across as more childish because...well, she's just so small.]

It is a lot. [She adjusts to sitting on the pillow, taking the small mug gladly in her hands. She still certainly needs to use two paws to hold it, but it is a comfortable size where she doesn't feel overwhelmed by it as she takes a sip. Visibly, she relaxes.] Especially with all those weird looking animals walking around. They look like furless apes.

[Taking another sip, and said a bit thoughtlessly:]

It's kind of ugly. But in a cute way, you know?

[At the mention of weird animals Juno just lights up... in a way? It's all about running into someone with a similar opinion and boy has she found it in Haru it seems. Even in the middle of fixing her own cup of tea her ears perk right up.]

I know exactly what you mean! It's like... well, they aren't terrible looking but it's just so strange.

[She takes her seat quickly, mug settled near her on the table and she dives right into this almost being a gossip session with the way she leans forward.]

And it's not just that either. The weird looking animals are called humans and the animals most of them seem to know are on all fours!

[Wait, hold on, let her get her device here because Haru's got to see this.]

This is what some of the cats around here look like.

[She turns the device to show Haru what looks like a tabby cat. Except well this cat is quite a bit different than what they're used to.]

[Normally. Haru is the topic of gossip, so having this female wolf sitting across from her, leaning in with that same sort of girlish excitement the other females at Cherryton high had around lunchtime, is somewhat of a surreal experience. As with her friends at university, she's wondering just how she'll fuck things up this time, but for now...she'll enjoy it.

And it truly is bizarre just how comfortable she is staring down into the moving maw of a wolf.]

Wait, what do you mean all fours. Like-- [Well, when she thinks of being on all fours, one thing comes to mind.

But then Juno is showing her a picture of something she's never seen before in her life, and she nearly slams her mug down, standing up on her chair with her hands brace on the table.]

No! What the heck is that? [Just gonna grab at your device, sorry Juno. She minds the claws.] What's wrong with it??

[If Juno takes offense it's completely lost in how Haru being so flabbergasted just feeds into her own exasperation. Her tone even reflects that high energy.]

Absolutely nothing apparently. I couldn't believe it either but in most of the human's worlds a lot of animals look like this. They even keep them as pets.

[Can you imagine?! Juno flops back into her own chair, having spent a good portion of the exasperation she had been feeling since she arrived but couldn't just spill out to a stranger. Or even Louis or Legosi honestly.]

Don't even get me started about the moon cycles! I've only been through one but I thought it would never end.

[Ah, this feels so nice. Who would have thought one day she would be complaining to Haru of all people over tea? Maybe it's a situation like with Louis where she can let go a little around the rabbit. Because they had been former rivals? No, that would mean she had ever stood a chance to begin with.

Maybe herbivores just inspire that in me? There's a thought she'll mull on tonight.]

Pets? Like...some kind of fetish or something?

[No!! She's can't imagine!! It looks like one of those weird images some edgy kid would share on an image forum, like 4Nyan or something. And the idea of keeping it as a pet...kind of reminds her of something that would happen in the Back Alley Market. But even then...

Just what kind of animal are these humans?

She allows herself one last look at the cat before setting the device down on the table, passing it back to Juno. It's just way to unsettling to look at for longer than she already has. And after passing it over, Haru goes back to sitting on the fluffy pillow, kicking her legs a bit as their conversation goes on.]

The moon cycles, huh? I feel like I keep hearing about that. [But was she listening to hear the details about it? Hah hah, nope.] I know wolves like basking in the moonlight...

Is it really that bad?

[Does it set something off...?]

[At that Juno can't help but color, just a little. The idea of pets in that way is -- whew, she hadn't even considered it.]

It's more like the way some animals keep insects as companions? It's not bad really but it's so weird.

[Like trying to picture keeping something like that tabby cat is just... well, it'd take some getting used to. She reaches for the device again as she talks.]

From what I've been told it's different for everyone. There are three of them with different effects - the beginning of the month is Sanguis, then Cordis and Iris. At the end of the month all three moons are active.

[She sighs out, an elbow coming to rest against the tabletop and her chin in her hand.]

You don't really know what moon affects you until it happens. I guess I'm Cordis because the first thing was how hungry I was. It was such a pain.

[Here she is, lovesick already and stuffing that emotion with food. Then the Cordis hunger hits and she stuffs even more food down and boy does she need to start some kind of exercising routine.]

[Honestly, the idea of animals being kept as pets is...ugh, she'd rather not think about it. Because if that's what a cat looks like to a human, she could only imagine how a rabbit must look...]

Can't say I like it. At least bugs are so small you have to get real close to see their eyes.

[She has both elbows on the table now, almost mirroring Juno's position except a bit more slumped over in her usual lackadaisical way, both hands supporting her chin.]

Sanguis, Cordis, and Iris huh? Yeah, I definitely heard those in passing. Weird how this place has three moons. Isn't one enough?

[Reason why she's taking botany over astronomy in university.]

So what, does it just mean when your moon is full, you just eat a lot? That doesn't sound too bad. Not that I'm a fan of exercising or anything.

[And with that, she's looking Juno down, as though trying to see if she's gotten fat.

Sorry she's!!! Rude.]

Wonder which moon I'll get...guess it's kind of this world's zodiac sign.

[Hdu, Haru. Yes she's put on some weight, thank you very much. She can't help it though, okay?! Just let her adjust her shirt here, only a little self-conscious. A little.]

I'd like to think so but I've been told what happens to you during your moon can change from one phase to another. Sometimes you've not event affected at all and then other times...

[Now she regrets not taking a picture of Ocelot while she could.]

One of the humans I met when I first arrived said some people transform completely into animals now and then. Ones like that cat. I had to go help him open his own front door one time, he was so small as a cat.

[... And cute, she's not going to lie.]

[Oh please, a chubby wolf is a cute wolf, and even with a little bit more weight Juno is still as pretty as a wolf can be. But Haru does smirk at Juno's flustering, straightening herself up from being slumped onto the table, mug to mouth.]

Wait, so you mean I could wind up being that small? I'm already small as it is! That's not fair. [Never mind all the actual small animals running around their world as it is. But Haru will be damned if she has to run around on four legs like that cat picture.] Wait, so, let me try to get this straight. Did you change with the moon? Like-- [She flattens her hand in a shrinking gesture.] Or you were just hungry and that was it?

Edited 2020-01-19 16:50 (UTC)

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