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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[Hifumi finally manages to take a moment to breathe, to give Doppo a good look to really admire that face he loves and adores, to cup Doppo's cheeks with his hands. Even though he's still an absolute mess, Hifumi gives Doppo the best smile he can.]

Doppo...

[He does his best to calm down, wiping his tears with his hands.]

Let's go home. There is so... so much I have to tell you.

[ there it is, a glimpse of sunshine behind the clouds, and doppo feels something in him lift, just a little. hifumi looks more like himself again, but why does he look at doppo like he hasn't seen him in a long time?

the disconnect bothers him again (because why -- ), but hifumi talks about home, and home is wherever hifumi is, and he nods, fishing in his pocket for his handkerchief and helping to wipe his face, shaking his head. using your hands is gross, hifumi, you've got snot and nobody's going to recognise the finest host in shinjuku like this.

(but doppo loves him, anyway.) ]

Yeah. Let's go home.

[ lead the way, hifumi has a lot of explaining to do. ]

[Hifumi leads the way, holding onto Doppo's arm. He's silent for a little while, mentally getting himself together a bit more before he says more painful things.]

It's been 8 months since getting here, and about 6 months since I last saw you.

[Saying it out loud feels a lot worse than he expected. Six months. He has gone half a year without Doppo in his life, and what an incredibly lonely half a year that was, despite all the friends he had from home, or the new friends he made here.]

Sensei is here too. Most of the other divisions as well. They all know where we live since I had everyone over for a Christmas party.

[He smiles a little, though it's more sad than anything.]

It was a lot of fun, but I still wanted you more than anything. It didn't matter how many new friends I made, or how much time I spent with Sensei who has been so kind and frequently checked on me. I feel terrible saying this, but despite all of that, I still wanted you more than anything. You are the most important to me, like you always have been.

[ doppo has to take a moment. eight months here, six months since he's seen him, but doppo is a hundred percent, absolutely sure that he hasn't been here, ever, just as he's also a hundred percent sure he'd just said goodbye to hifumi before he left for work this morning.

he frowns at hifumi, but the man has never been a good liar, and he looks too distraught to be playing a prank on him -- hifumi never really plays pranks on him, anyway. the strange pulse of warmth at the continued contact, a strange sort of feeling he's come to know as 'chroma', reminds him that he's not back in their own world, not by a long shot.

all right, don't panic. the last thing hifumi needs to deal with his doppo freaking the fuck out, even if the familiar weight of it threatens to crash over him. he squeezes hifumi's hold on his arm, words caught in his throat.

what can he say to that? hifumi has been alone for so long, struggling to cope -- wanting him, of all people, and sensei had been here to take care of him...

doppo swallows hard. ]

I just -- saw you this morning. [ but what he also wants to say is: ] I'm sorry I left you alone for so long.

[ six months without hifumi would be torture -- hifumi is the most important person in the world to him, his safe harbor, his anchor, and he winces -- the loneliness is unimaginable. is it the same for hifumi? it must be, he has never seen him this unhappy before. ]

I'm gonna -- make it up to you, okay?

It isn't your fault. None of this is.

[Hifumi knows saying that won't change the guilt Doppo will feel, but it still needs to be said. Doppo simply isn't at fault for any of this and he will remind him every day if he has to. He hated that he even has to admit any of this, knowing that this will hurt Doppo to hear. Doppo wouldn't ever leave him alone for this long by choice. Best friends since they were kids, and always there for each other no matter what.]

It's this place... It does strange things with people. [More stuff he would rather not have to explain, but it was too important not to.] Sometimes people who know each other come from a different time, like their past or future. Sometimes people leave and return with memories of their time here, and sometimes without those memories.

[And it's clear as day which category Doppo falls into, but Hifumi didn't mind at all.]

Making chroma is also new and weird, but moonlacing isn't a bad concept. Making money from something as simple as patting someone's head... No one should ever have to be touch-starved. People as a whole learning to open themselves up to touch is really beautiful, I think. [He gives Doppo's arm a little squeeze.] And you might especially like it since it makes jobs unnecessary.

[ so he's returned without memories -- whatever happened with hifumi, clean forgotten and lost to the mires of this impossible place. hifumi's right, all the same; doppo wouldn't leave him on his own for this long, not if he knew he was here, but it still doesn't stop the sour, awful feeling that grips his heart.

hifumi is lonely, and doppo can tell the depth of it in the way he keeps so close, and he exhales a quiet sigh, listening as he explains the rest of it. hifumi's lustre is dimmed, the real him is at the forefront now, and as much as he thinks that the whole touching-to-make-chroma thing is a potential pain in his ass, and also a weird sort of... prostitution thing (are they all hookers here? must they be touching? doppo doesn't want to touch very many people!), and everything in him believes the opposite of hifumi's shining optimism, because no, opening up to touch leads to getting hurt and humiliation and embarrassment, and no, thanks, he's been down this road before.

but he doesn't want to rain on his parade this time, because he'll make sure that hifumi doesn't end up getting hurt if things go wrong. he blinks at the mention of jobs, however: ]

We don't?

[ ohhhh, big plus! but wait -- ] What's the catch?

[ and... has hifumi been moonlacing...? ]

[Haha... well... the catch. Hifumi wonders if he should lay it on him thick or not. The poor man just got here and he will certainly continue to be hit with all kinds of things left and right, not to mention everything that he just told Doppo is A Lot on its own.]

The catch is that sometimes strange things happen. [He glances around as they walk, gesturing to their surroundings.] This is all normal right now. But things aren't always like this. We've had evil puppets once before, for starters. They tried attacking me and others. Dragon eggs happened before too, and it was interesting seeing people walking a round with their eggs, the yakuza of MTC was one of them. It was also interesting seeing him working at a cafe...

[Now that he's said some of the more tame things, he decides he will go further. Doppo deserves to know the truth, after all, so that he can mentally prepare himself for anything that can happen at any moment.]

There were kidnappings, sometimes people have seen things that weren't there, and evil phone apps... but what you may deal with more regularly is changing to an animal form depending on the lunar cycle.

[ there comes a time when things are so overwhelming that your body and mind just chooses to take that break for you -- because all of this is way too much to handle; the presence of mtc, dragon eggs, the mental image of that violent yakuza carrying eggs, evil puppets attacking hifumi, evil phone apps...

he stares down at his phone dubiously just in case, as if it would rear back and bite him, but when it doesn't, his mind practically catches right on to the last thing hifumi shares.

wow, so he really saved the best for last, huh? ]

Changing to a what? What do you mean 'regularly'?

[Entering the apartment complex, Hifumi holds the door open for Doppo, a grin on his face.]

Well, during Cordis I become a little more foxy than usual.

[And he leaves it at that, winking at Doppo.]

Fufu, I wonder how the moon will influence you~. This will be a fun guessing game to play until something happens!

[ aw, hell. this is definitely the worst. doppo dead-eyes him, not missing that pun and low-key horrified of what that possibly means. ]

You became a fox?

[ hey! his moon thing isn't a spectator sport! he's coming in behind him, closing the door and locking it as if he's always lived there, even if the lock's different and he has to take a moment, but one can't be too careful on sex planets, right? what if there are more sex-crazed female stalkers who've taken a shine to hifumi? ]

Is there even any way to know beforehand? I might turn into something terrible and hurt you.

[Doppo being worried about hurting him with whatever animal instincts he may now have makes Hifumi laugh. He's not worried about it himself, even if Doppo becomes something repulsive or violent.]

I wouldn't worry about it. If anything, you can be sure that Sensei and I will keep you in check. Now... [He gestures towards the bathroom.] Please excuse me for just a moment - I'm going to wash my face. Make yourself comfortable. Or perhaps I should say, make yourself at home.

[ !! this is very serious, hifumi! but it's a nice thing, hearing him laugh, so doppo is going to let that go. he raises his brows at the reassurance, but then nods and moves to take in the rest of the apartment.

it's very different from their shared apartment, but it's so unmistakably him. he pauses outside the bedroom, lingering by the doorway. is this hifumi's? has he been alone here all along? ]

[The entire time Hifumi is washing his face, he fears that it will wake him up from this dream. He thought he had already decided that this was reality, but these past several minutes have felt way too good to be true.

This had to be real at this point, didn't it?

He hated that he had this new fear thanks to this place.

Time to go on, move forward, see how this plays out. Face washed and suit jacket removed, Hifumi bursts out of the bathroom to immediately cling and hug onto Doppo from behind.]

Doppochin, Doppochin! Welcome home! Mi casa es su casa! [He giggles] I don't even care if you leave messes! Okay maybe a little but it's fine because it's you!

[ hifumi was alone for so long, he thinks -- even if doppo's only just seen him, it's not like the man to lie. even his grip, when he practically hugs him from behind and clings, comes with a helpless, wordless desperation to hold on to him.

doppo knows hugs, especially hifumi's, and so instead of simply shrugging him off like he sometimes would, he shakes his head and turns around in his arms, wrapping it around him and pulling him close. ]

God, you're still so loud. [ he chides, but it's gentle, his own hug warm as he keeps him in his arms, swallowing the lump in his throat. he can't imagine tolerating even a week without hifumi; how did he manage it for six months? he must have been so lonely. ] How haven't the neighbours complained yet?

They did after I had the party here! But then I apologized and gave them my best sad puppy face!

[How dare they complain when he's been here alone and quiet every other time! He doesn't think it's a big deal, at least, because it isn't like he has a bunch of people over every day. So! Nothing he thinks is worth worrying about.]

Anyway! It's up to you what you wanna do - I have a cot you can sleep on that fits here [Gestures to big empty space in the living room] and we can get a real bed some time. Or you can share with me if you want, but I can't guarantee I'll let you sleep! Fufu~

[ ...oh, okay. so the neighbours are due a fruit basket or ten, thanks to raucous hifumi; he'll take care of that, then. and probably beg forgiveness a little. but anyway -- the important thing is that he's looking at the bed, then to the living room, torn between the choices.

on the one hand, he doesn't want to impose on hifumi, especially when they've only got on bed. also on that same hand, hifumi cheerfully telling him he won't let him sleep just kills him, really. but on the other hand -- doppo doesn't want to leave hifumi on his own. being apart from him is unprecedented, and while hifumi's handled it very well on the surface, he knows the man hasn't been dealing at all.

doppo knows he wouldn't, anyway. ]

Well, then, I'll take the cot.

[ he deadpans when hifumi seems pretty hell-bent on keeping him awake -- but he knows; he knows that before the evening is over, he'll probably be crawling into that bed to make sure hifumi's okay.

there's no way he's leaving his best friend alone, no matter what he says. ]

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