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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[Jin Ling could try to continue with the argument that the room is just hot and making him sweaty, a little like she says. He opens his mouth to say just that, but the words die in his throat when he knows already that it sounds too fake to say. And that's coming from a boy who just claimed he wasn't crying.

Still, he feels like he's been crying on and off since that incident happened, just a matter of hours ago.]

Hmph... so what if I want to cry, anyway? Maybe I don't have any honor left, and it'd make no difference if I did!

[He crosses his arms over his chest, trying to look just haughtily annoyed at this Bully even as his eyes fill with tears that threaten to spill over again. The reputation of his whole sect and family name has already been run into the ground, and it's mere kneejerk pride that keeps him from screaming and cursing because of all the unfairness and people who it would be much easier to just hate-- how else is he supposed to get it all out?]

[Shiho mentally heaves a sigh and thinks "this child" with the conviction for someone around the same age but who already considers herself an adult.

But she will look thoroughly unimpressed at his attempt at being brave. She's not fooled for a second.]

...So do you want to cry or not, then? Anyone who tells you it'll ruin your honor or something sounds like they need to have a long sit and think about why they think repressing your emotions for something abstract like honor is healthy.

[She tries to be kind, or at least her version of kind which is easily embarrassed and will never admit to being kindness.]

I have a handkerchief. You could hide your face in it?

[Jin Ling listens, sniffling a bit. When she finishes, he's quiet for a moment, but eventually makes a sound of agreement. To both questions, really. He would really like a good moment to scream and he would also like something to at least wipe his nose. It's starting to drip.]

Anyone? Almost everyone has said this to me. Hah. You might be the first person who ever told me anything like that.

[And that's definitely because she doesn't know who he is. Crying makes him look weak. Looking weak means that others will take advantage and pick on him more.

But he has so much to cry for.]

Still, would you want a leader who cries in front of everyone?

[Well, goodbye sweet handkerchief. She holds it out for him to take. It’s a waste of that pretty face to be all gross and drippy, after all.]

Then everyone you’ve ever met is an idiot. [She will stand by this too because being able to cry, having a support network that allowed you to be weak even if just for a moment was important, cathartic even.]

And I wouldn’t mind if my leader cried sometimes. It would mean they trusted me enough to let me be there when they were vulnerable, right? Besides, your kind of thinking is really short-sighted. Crying is something all humans do from the moment they’re born.

I’d rather take a look at what the leader is going to do after they’re done crying.

[Would they wilt and resign themselves to their fate? Or would they pick themselves up afterwards, become stronger and carry on? That, to her, is what makes a great leader.]

[That handkerchief is swiftly soaked in snot and tears, leaving Jin Ling's face clean even if the telltale redness will take a bit longer to subside. Everything this girl is saying feels so contrary to what he's been told. He's always been told that one has to look strong and infallible at all times, or that crying is something to be outgrown (and is especially unseemly on men). But he wants to believe it, if at least so he doesn't have to feel like he's failing again just because he can't take any more.

And also he likes to think of the rest of the Jin clan - the ones most responsible for making him feel this way - as idiots. That bit brings a slight smile to his face, even as he sniffles.]

I'll have until whenever these Prismals decide to send me back to do anything. I doubt I'm recognized as anything here.

[Is that a blessing in disguise? He wouldn't have to care-- but he's never known anything but caring about his reputation and his pride.]

So... I don't know what to do.

[Could he really live just like anyone else for a while? It's such a strange thought.]

[Looking a little red-faced and a little red-eyed is an acceptable way to be, she thinks? Besides, he's smiling, no matter how slight and that's an even bigger improvement. So Shiho smiles back, though her smile is a touch wider, a touch more mischievous and pleased with herself as she clasps her hands behind her back.]

Well, when you're not spending your time crying, you'll see that there's lots you can do. [But there's nothing malicious in the way she smiles at him now as she teases him.]

And who says you need to do anything at all? I mean, have you ever had something you really wanted to try? Like a hobby or something.

[Jin Ling does make a face as Shiho teases, though he does pick up that it's not meant to be pointed with the intention to hurt. At those suggestions, however, he blinks.]

A hobby? I don't... have anything like that.

[Trained to be proficient in the Six Arts as a gentleman ought to be, as well as spending most of his time practicing his cultivation, has made free time scarce. Never did he have much enjoyment in playing games with the other Jin children, who would insult him and gang up on him, all while their parents sought after how to control him in the case he claimed his birthright as the role of Sect Leader. At least he had Fairy to play with to unwind.

Living within Lanling has a way of making the world feel very small. There are few other options presented to him, and when his worth is hinged on how powerful a leader and a cultivator he can become, he doesn't divert his attention.

He looks around at nothing in particular, as if lost in how to even begin considering this idea. He also can't very well begin how to explain all this to someone who likely doesn't know.

Eventually, he turns his gaze back to Shiho. At least this could be a start?]

Then what do you plan to do? What kind of hobbies do you have?

[As if someone making a face at her would even slow her down.

Not having a hobby though.... somehow she can imagine it. If they didn't even let him cry because it would make him "weak" she can't even imagine what those faceless people would think of him taking over the basement and starting a model train collection or making lofi hip hop beats to study to.

But she's patient, kind in a way that she won't ever admit to being, letting him take the time to think of what he's going to say next. After all, she's not like those faceless people in his past and in her opinion people interrupted her on pain of death or you know, total destruction of their reputation in the eyes of society.

When he does finally look back at her...]

Well... my hobbies might be too unconventional for most people. But you're welcome to try out reading about cold cases and murders if you think it could be your thing?

[Jin Ling's brows furrow.]

A cold case, like an investigation?

[As a cultivator, he has all of the tools to investigate ghosts, monsters, and other phenomena that the common folk cannot deal with alone. Often, they will need to research the origins of their targets. In a way, it wouldn't be too different, but... the investigation is something that he had actually found rather interesting, outside of needing to. Wei Wuxian had shown him how to approach the problems differently and make sense of the situation.]

... Sure. I could read some of it with you.

[Maybe it's that he's too tired from before that he doesn't catch himself at the end there, assuming more than what was actually asked.

But doing a hobby on his own would be rather lonely.]

Exactly like an investigation.

[Except her powers gave her the ability to not just read up on those cold cases but with bits of evidence, soil samples, or even a discarded bit of fluff, she could solve them. And in turn, the cases helped her relieve stress because regardless of how messy the world might be in any given moment at least she could get a moment of satisfaction at the thought of one-upping a monster that thought they were clever.

But on hearing that he wanted to read them with her, her expression becomes one of surprise. With her? No one ever wanted to read them with her. If anything, most people wanted the sixteen year old girl (and before that the 10 year old girl) to maybe please get a normal hobby like horticulture or something because they were running out of cold cases for her to solve.

With him though, she can’t be too mean. Not after seeing him cry and definitely not when he seemed so determined to find out who he wanted to be. So her look of surprise becomes one of wry amusement.]

That’s fine.

Now all we have to do is break into the headquarters of those so-called “moon guys” or whatever.

[Does she know the proper name for them? Probably.

Is she ever going to use it? Doubtful.]

[Jin Ling is just starting to think about how crime even works here, and how they would even figure that out, when what she's suggesting hits him.]

The Moon Knights?

[Though he blurts out the word, incredulous at the idea, he pauses before he can go on about all of the reasons of why that would be a bad idea. Ugh, he almost sounded like his uncle there.

He did see them earlier, when he was being escorted here. Honestly, he doesn't know what to make of them, even if they did help. Maybe he just has a skewed view of authority now - even if he is the authority now - given how he's been misled by so many who came before him. When he stops to think, there really is something suspicious about them. Or at least, there's ways to learn more about this strange world that has just suddenly taken him in!

His expression sets into something more contemplative again.]

... We might have to wait for an opportunity. When they're distracted.

[Shiho had meant that as a joke to begin with. Sure, she wasn't against a tiny little bit of innocent crime now and again but it isn't like the Moon Knights have actually done anything to upset her and warrant a crime to be committed against them.

But then he has to go and take her seriously and honestly........... it sounds kind of fun??? Perhaps his new hobby shouldn't be crime but she is definitely not here to be the angel on anyone's shoulder.

So she smiles, like this is all perfectly innocent and wholesome and not a plot. It's fine, they're teenagers, causing trouble is what they do.]

Or... we could cause a distraction once we have this whole heist planned.

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▶ TDM .011

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Sorry for the delay ;;

It's fine, welcome back!

getting back into it with him is slow-going atm, but i enjoy their rapport so far ;;

It’s fine! Sorry for my lateness, work is kicking my butt... BUT YES, these two are cute

Never be sorry to me abt this, this season is rough on me ;; (but NEXT thread will be more timely)

A lot goes on this month for sure! Along with general seasonal ennui too (also NEXT THREAD!!)