▶ TDM .011

[prismods]

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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.

Comments

[sheeples]

[Vincent turns to see a stranger yelling at him with a blade and lets out a strangled scream, backing up until his back meets a wall. He's too frightened to respond, but just standing and staring is likely to get him killed, so he stammers and strings together a sentence.]

I-I'll leave! Please let me leave! I won't ever bother you again!

[Unfortunately the stranger is between him and the door, so he can't make a run for it.]

[zhuanji]

[ How unsatisfying. Even if Liu Qingge's primary concern is reclaiming the right to his own haven and chasing out interlopers, the fact his challenge is met with surrender floods him with disappointment. If everyone on this planet merely tucks their tails between their legs and runs the moment they're met with conflict he's not sure how it hasn't fallen to ruin in a day's time. Perhaps those in charge have a little more backbone. ]

Good! [ Shut up, he doesn't look conflicted at all! ] Take whatever's yours unless you want it thrown into the street.

[ He casts a furtive glance around the place, scouring the immediate surroundings for any item that seems out of place. Not that he needs to do much searching; anything this stranger might own should stick out like a sore thumb in the space that lacks both decoration or even the sparsest of additions.

Next to nothing material in the world holds his interest if it doesn't pertain to his cultivation or honing his skill with the sword. Something that's reflected in his spartan way of life and the lack of concern for stocking up on practical sustenance for himself ahead of time.

He's just about to let this coward slink away before the sharp scent of cigarette smoke hanging heavy in the air leaves his nosy wrinkling. ]

Wait a minute. [ Stalking up to the intruder, he pins him with an accusing glare. ] What's that disgusting smell?

[sheeples]

[Despite his fear, Vincent can't help a little of the exasperation creeping into his voice when he responds.]

I don't have anything for you to toss out, I just got h--

[Yet any attempts at defiance melt away when the crazy sword guy begins stalking right up to him, and he realises he still has a cigarette crumbling away in his hand. Shit. He looks back at the stranger.]

It's, uh-- a cigarette! I can throw it away, but you need to let me go first! [His legs are shaking and he's sweating bullets. Please don't stab him.]

[zhuanji]

Who's holding you hostage, huh?

[ He's only brandishing a weapon! That's an entirely different offense, alright?! There's an accusing scoff given when the man finally realizes he's polluting airspace that doesn't belong to him. The admission of guilt is enough for Liu Qingge to drop any grip he holds over the fellow; even if he's not about to retreat from his personal space. ]

Well, hurry up and get rid of it!

[ A rough jerk of his head towards the rest of the apartment is all the allowance given to suggest the fellow is free to go. Because Liu Qingge isn't about to do anything so cordial as to back off or step aside. This intruder can slink away without forcing him to budge an inch.

He could care less about the logistics of how this man can accomplish the task of snuffing out a cigarette that's presently filling his home with the stench of tobacco. He could swallow it whole for all Liu Qingge cares, so long as it's gone. ]

[sheeples]

[Ohhhh shit. Vincent panics as he considers his options. The guy doesn't have an ashtray, he'd be mad if he just stubbed out the cigarette anywhere, he has an irrational mental image of trying to flush the thing down the toilet and inexplicably clausing a clog. All of these things would end in getting stabbed.

So he iiiinches away from sword guy (he's not going to ask him to move or push him out of the way, nope), then moves over to the window, scrambling to open it and let some fresh air in. At the same time, he throws the remains of the cigarette butt out the window.

Should he jump? Call for help? Maybe not such a good idea on either count. He just tries to collect himself and turns to the stranger.]

T-there. Just keep your window open and the smell will be gone in no time! Ha ha...

[He tries to give a strained smile but he still looks terrified. Hopefully he can go now.]

[zhuanji]

[ Placated soon as the cigarette takes a flying leap from his window, Liu Qingge eases down from his earlier readiness for a full-blown beat down on this hapless fellow. It doesn't immediately solve the condition of a smoky room, but with the offending item is gone they're one step closer towards it.

Not that he's going to forgive and forget precisely who remains responsible for causing all of this mess. Sure, his sword does slide away into his scabbard with an all too aggressive slash of metal hitting home. But the crease of irritation marring his brows never once lessens, even as his arms momentarily cross as he stands to examine what lies beyond the open window. ]

Now there's a draft.

[ A hawkish gaze lands on his present victim irritant; the look he gives nothing sort of expectant that the man at his side is now obligated to solve this too. ]

Can't you fan the stink out faster with something? [ Looking him up and down Liu Qingge's gaze locks onto his clothes. ] Take off your shirt and use that.

[ Said while he looms next to the window, as if willing to toss this unfortunate soul down the many stories to the ground below if he doesn't agree. ]

[sheeples]

[Vincent flinches; even the sword entering the sheeth sounds like something that could kill him.]

What?! But that's--

[Fucking dumb and makes no sense, but Vincent remembers his predicament and the guy still has a sword. And the ability to toss him out the window if Vincent doesn't comply. So he grits his teeth and shrugs off his jacket, then his t-shirt, shuddering slightly at the chill wind against his chest.

God, this is humiliating. But he starts fanning his shirt to try and guide the stale air outside as asked. He's pretty sure it's making no difference whatsoever, and his clothes smell of smoke anyway so he's just waving it around, but if he stands here long enough hopefully the fresh air will do the job on its own.]