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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Aaah, ahh, I'm sorry! I'm sho--sorry. [ the backhand is scary!! except not really, because it's jiang cheng, and a drunk huaisang is not scared of jiang cheng at all. in response to being "lost", he just squeezes his arm tighter around his so he doesn't drop him, and allows himself to be dragged off. he leans into jiang cheng's side, too, swaying and generally making this very difficult on him.

at least he's light as a feather. nie huaisang stumbles, and he lifts his hand to wave it around in the air. this is where he'd be gesturing with his fan, normally. ] Sect - Leader - Jiang. Are you sure? I'm Sect Leader Nie. You're... yes, yes. [ another giggle that explains nothing. he realizes, upon looking away from jiang cheng and at his hand, that he's not actually holding his fan? where did it go?

he stares at his own hand for a moment, open mouthed. this expression changes to a sad little frown a minute later, and he tugs on his arm. ] Jiang-xion... no, Sect leadeeerrr Jiang-xionggg.... It's missing.

Like it'd ever fall to you to be sect leader.

[ Jiang Cheng dismisses Huaisang's claim as a drunken tease, as his old friend wanting to be on the same level on him again now that the Jiang sect has fallen into Jiang Cheng's hands. He doesn't even think about it twice, moves right along to the apparent issue of Huaisang's missing fan.

Sighing, he looks around to see if they dropped it but, not seeing it on the ground, he rolls his eyes a little before checking Huaisang's person. He finds it caught in the folds of Huaisang's robe just above his sash, smacking his friend on the shoulder in reprimand for losing it. ]

Don't lose it again or I'm not helping. Come on.

[ And then it's over to the benches where he sits Huaisang's ass down and then stands over him, hands on his hips, giving his friend a disbelieving look. ]

How did you get so drunk?! You just got here, didn't you? Is now the time??

[ ................

oh. oh oh oh. jiang cheng is right. it shouldn't have fallen to him, should it have? he's silenced by this fact for a moment longer, letting jiang cheng search his person for his fan, which he's now forgotten about. he sniffs, the noise more pathetic and pouty than actually upset, because he should slap those perfect cheekbones right off of jiang cheng's face but he's drunk and also not prone to violence....with his own hands.

a little petulant, he mutters: ] I didn't want to be sect leader. I wanted to catch birds. [ another sniff.

the remark stings even after being smacked in the shoulder, even after he's being walked over to the benches. nie huaisang lets it percolate, dropping down with an ungraceful huff, his silks spreading out with the gesture. ] Jiang-xiong, you're supposed to get it. Like me, except you --you cultivay... cultivate. Good. Da-ge would've...

[ mnmnm.... sticking his lower lip out now, brows furrowing. he's trying here, man, but that drink was strong as shit. ] Issat why you're so little? Maybe I'm really crazy. I don't know, I don't know... I really don't know this time for real. Really, really. Promise.

[ ... hiccup. ]

Edited 2020-01-13 02:12 (UTC)

[ This time, when Huaisang speaks, Jiang Cheng listens with a worsening frown as realization sets in. Oh, oh— It's not a joke. This is... one of those things. One of those times. Wei Wuxian not recalling Lotus Pier, his nephew grown, crying in his arms. Lan Wangji's cold, unrelenting fury. An older Huaisang, sect leader, his brother's successor.

The world tilts off its axis at the mere thought, and he can only imagine how things must feel to his friend no matter how much time has come to pass. Sighing, expression somber, he takes a seat next to Huaisang and puts an arm over his shoulder, pulling him in. ]

...yeah. If you're actually a sect leader, I guess I would be. I just became sect leader myself.

[ He wonders if Huaisang will catch the implication, drunk as he is, that the massacre of Lotus Pier is but six months past in his memory. He doesn't point it out, just tries to ground his drunk friend a little in this strange new land. ]

You're not crazy. Things like that just happen here. Wei Wuxian's even younger, Lan Wangji is... being Lan Wangji. And my nephew is here, can you believe it? He's almost my age. My sister's not even married.

[ jiang cheng speaks and nie huaisang listens through his fog, still looking a little far away, mouth curled into a sad little frown. as he confirms what even a wasted off of his ass nie huaisang thought, he nods, and confirms, quietly, ] Small. [ as if to say "yes, i know."

there's another sniff, and nie huaisang easily allows himself to be moved closer, letting some of the weight leave his shoulders as he leans into jiang cheng. the motion builds chroma, and it's a nice, warm, floaty feeling in tangent with the strength of the 'kick' of the drink, making nie huaisang exhale a sigh. boneless and comfortable, he tucks his cheek against jiang cheng's collar. how nice this is. warm. very comfortable. much better than being sad about how badly he misses his da-ge every day of his life.]

...I'm sorry. [ a murmur from where he's settled. just became sect leader...a tragedy wasn't far off. maybe it's surprising, that nie huaisang picks up on that thread even like this. closing his eyes. his brows furrow a moment later, thinking. ] ...How is your nephew here, if your sister isn't married?

[ the smartest character in the series: also a one brain cell fool. never forget. ]

[ The only thing currently saving Nie Huaisang's life is that he's far too pathetic in his current state to get too angry at, which is one of the few things managed to get them to being friends back in Gusu. He's got a sad enough look to him most days, all nervous energy and want of companionship. Reminded him a bit of a puppy whose master didn't treat him right.

And now that puppy is drunk, and snuggling into him, and Jiang Cheng tolerates it in the way of a man who can't bear to shove something away he will never admit to being precious but is precious nonetheless.

Instead he sighs, patting Huaisang consolingly at his condolences for, he presumes, Lotus Pier. Idly, he strokes his hand over his friend's hair, tracing absently over those Nie sect braids, wondering vaguely who even does Huaisang's hair. Can he really braid it himself like that? Even A-Jie needed help with hers if it was anything more involved than a few simple plaits.

Then Huaisang keeps talking, causing Jiang Cheng to sigh his very soul out with his breath, bringing a hand up to shield himself from the headache he feels coming on. ]

She marries eventually. And has a child. With Jin Zixuan. Shouldn't you know that??

Oh. [

oh. right. that's how that works, isn't it.

well, don't look at him. it's not like nie huaisang is currently holding the braincell. actually, all he's currently thinking about is how nice and floaty and warm he feels, and also that jiang cheng's petting him like a dog, which is very silly. has he ever even petted someone before? he doesn't want him to stop, though, and instead of verbalizing any of this, he just nudges his head up into jiang cheng's fingers, like a spoiled pet. ] Jiang-xiong knows the future.

[ nie huaisang is from the future, actually, and the idea tickles him enough that he snorts. a whole bunch of lotus pier... it wouldn't be entirely impossible. eyes still closed, nie huaisang fumbles at the edge of his sleeves, small fingers finding silky fabric, picking at a loose thread. he asks the question so, so idly: even pain feels far away like this. he should find out what they made him drink. ] Is da-ge here?

[ but even that idleness carries a bit of hope. like maybe he'll see his big brother alive, one last time, if jiang cheng got to see his sister. that seems fair. ]

Yeah, the punk kid I apparently raised screamed it at me, [ he informs with clear disgust. At what? Himself, probably. The encouraging nuzzle earns Huaisang more pets, the dog lover in Jiang Cheng unable to resist such a ploy from any source.

At the question, though, he grimaces a little and looks away. ]

I haven't seen him, and he's pretty hard to miss. He might show up, though. Wei Wuxian got here before me, after all.

[ He pauses, shrugging. ]

A-jie isn't here either. Jin Ling told me she doesn't make it either.

[ His voice is flat, dead. He won't accept it. ]

[ nie huaisang's mouth curls up into a smile. 'the punk kid i apparently raised'. ] Jin Rulan... you influenced him a lot. [ he takes after the best and the worst of jiang cheng. see: running around and nearly ruining nie huaisang's ten years of careful revenge. also his attitude, probably. normally, he'd be more clever with his words, but he's drunk and giggly and thinking about jin rulan mostly just makes him think about his stupid dead other uncle. ha. take THAT, jin guangyao.

i mean.

his eyes close again, and nie huaisang hums, tuneless like a bird. it's not surprising. his heart hurts at the thought, but he hasn't had much time to think about his brother being gone now that he's really, truly, for real, gone. buried properly, as he should have been. it's a somber, sobering thought, and he sighs, small shoulders lifting, then falling under jiang cheng's arm. his eyes open again, looking past jiang cheng, off into some faraway distance. ] ...I wish my brother made it, too. I wish it all the time. I need another drink. Jiang-xiong, can we get another drink?

[ that seems like a better idea than dealing with those particular thoughts! ]

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▶ TDM .011

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i cannot believe this tag

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im so glad i got to use this icon

;>

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