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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[ that noise stabs at minako's heart. she knows this must be reopening so much for her, and she can't help feeling guilty on some level, but it's too late now. minako had always been certain that somehow, some way, they'd meet again eventually. fate had bound them together, after all. she'd dared to hope that it might be here, but as time went on, she understood it was less and less likely...

minako doesn't let herself cry often. it's become more common since she came to prismatica--in that it happens at all--but it's still rare. but this is different. she starts to sob, tears soaking into the shoulder of aigis's uniform jacket. ]

I'm sorry-- [ she chokes that out, quietly, through sobs. ] I'm sorry, I didn't... I wanted to stay, Aigis...!

Edited 2020-01-13 05:58 (UTC)

[Unfair. Finally, she finds a word for the bitter feeling that soured her soul as she awoke on one of this planet's moons. It's unfair. It was enough to be removed from the life she'd just begun to build with her teammates back home, but this—

This is terribly unfair. It feels so wrong, after they fought so hard to accept Minako's sacrifice.

Yet Aigis can't help but hold on to her tighter, like if she lets go Minako might once again become the apparitions in the corners of her vision, the monster leading them deeper into the Abyss. She doesn't cry in exactly the way a human does, but the polish that protects her eyes gathers like tears in the clumps of her eyelashes.

There are nuances to Minako's pain that Aigis can't understand, she knows, but it echoes awfully in her heart nonetheless to see the one she loves cry like this.] No. I'm sorry. I...

[It sticks slightly in her throat. Like she knows it's something she shouldn't say after the lesson the Abyss of Time taught her. But seeing Minako again, seeing her cry, digs up the guilt that's only just barely been buried.] I couldn't protect you...

[ she shakes her head, vehement, denying that point, pulling back enough to press a kiss to aigis's temple. she pulls one of her hands from her back, weaving it into her hair, even as her composure is totally gone. ]

No. I... I made my choice. Okay? It's not your fault. It's not. And there was... no one I wanted by my side more.

[ minako touches her forehead to aigis's, red eyes on hers. ]

Bet it's been...a weird few days, huh? [ she huffs out a laugh through tears. ]

[Feeling the touch of Minako's soft hands again is gut-wrenching. No one else has ever touched her like that, and somehow it digs deeper into the well of feelings she'd abandoned not so long ago, dredging up hidden things that hadn't yet even occurred to Aigis to move on from. Her face would flush were she capable of it, but she's not; however, Minako can hear as Aigis's fans grow louder, can feel where they touch that her face grows warmer.

She's so close. She's so close, and real, and Aigis wants to be happy but there's so much inside of her, so much that it feels like a betrayal of to enjoy this. She closes her eyes and laughs too, though it's more just another sob poorly masquerading as a laugh.] ...I don't understand why I'm here.

[It seems like none of them do. But Minako will know what this means, will recognize the much deeper lost feeling at play.]

[ minako definitely understands it, and it hurts to see aigis this way--but she's here for her. she will be for as long as she can. she sniffles, before pressing her lips gently to the corner of aigis's mouth. there's a lot to say to her, but not here, not like this. ]

We get to decide our own reasons. [ she says it quietly, voice strained, stroking aigis's hair. she's desperately trying to get herself under control, smiling through the tears. koromaru pushes his muzzle affectionately at aigis's leg. ] My apartment, um... it isn't far from here. We'll have more privacy to talk.

[That awful seizing feeling surges in her chest again as Minako kisses her like that, the tears escaping from where they'd been contained at her waterline and streaking down her face. With one hand she finally releases her vice grip on Minako, but only so that she can lay it against her cheek, as gentle as she knows how to be with such unyielding metal hands.

It's Koromaru that momentarily interrupts the existential spiral of being with Minako like this again, and Aigis tilts her head slightly to look down at him. A touch of a smile pulls at her mouth. The acknowledgement is quiet.] Koromaru-san.

[Taking a moment to consider where they are at Minako's suggestion, she does realize through the overwhelming maelstrom of emotion that this is far from an ideal environment in which to be vulnerable. So she nods once, the grip of her other hand relaxing reluctantly.] ...you're right. Um... Then shall we go?

[ she leans her head against aigis's touch all the same, slowly pulling back from her. koromaru lets out a worried sort of whine at their distress, but seems happy at the acknowledgement. ]

Y...yeah. [ BRAVE FACE, COME ON. minako picks up koromaru's leash, taking aigis's hand in hers as she starts walking, interlacing their fingers. maybe she'll even lean against her shoulder as she does. ]

How, uh... how long has it been? Since... since we last saw each other. I'm glad we saw the sakura, like we talked about... [ she's... trying ]

[The mechanisms at the sides of her head spin ever faster as they try to ventilate the excess heat in her body. They've been even closer than this. But...that was only once. And it was so fleeting, so quickly subsumed into the inevitable shadow that Nyx cast over them, and gone in the days following. Until...

The point is, this much contact, the casual intimacy of it all—it's a lot. It's almost too much. She curls her fingers around Minako's hand in turn because she can't imagine doing anything else when it's the person most important to her, but it's...surreal to simply walk hand in hand with her like this. Aigis's free hand rises to her face to wipe the tears from it, renewed by the mention of the sakura (in and of themselves fleeting, aren't they?)

How long has it been? A soft, heavy sound, a nonverbal it's complicated.] ...approximately a month. I'm...not sure of the exact amount of time.

[How many days did they lose to the Abyss of Time? She lost track so easily...]

Oh.

[ minako nods against her again at that. with the vague response and noncommittal sound, it's not hard to put the pieces together. she squeezes her hand in what she hopes is a reassuring gesture, but with how complicated this is for aigis, she can't be sure. ]

Yukari told me what happened, with the Abyss of Time. I'm... sorry you had to go through that. [ because of me, she doesn't say. ] But I'm really proud of you.

Proud...of me? [She logs it away, that Yukari is here too and has appraised Minako of the situation, but her attention is drawn too easily to this, yet more unfamiliar feelings. It's never occurred to her to be proud of anything she's done, much less that anyone else would.

The pressure of Minako's hand is nice, but she's not sure that squeezing back would have the same effect. It might just hurt her. She instead acknowledges the gesture by glancing down to their joined hands.

After a moment thinking over this, Aigis shakes her head slowly.] ...thank you. But... I had a part in causing it. [A big part. No one else carved out their pain and created a Metis.] It was only right to fix it.

[ she opens the door to the building, stepping in. ]

You're not responsible for how you feel, Aigis. Just what you do with it. And you made things right. [ she smiles, running her thumb over the back of aigis's hand. above all else, right now, she wants to make her feel loved. ] My Wild Card's in good hands with you. Now c'mon, it's this way...

[Aigis follows, glancing down to make sure Koromaru is still matching their strides. Minako does have a point, but the problem is what she did with the feelings in the first place. What they all did.

Minako Arisato is not a person who can be argued with, though. Aigis knows this. She feels so heavy and conflicted, but slowly the little things creep up through the fog, small fond memories of the Minako she loved. Still loves. And this stubbornness is one of those little things.

Whatever she has to say about this can wait until they're in the privacy of the apartment, though. Finally, Aigis finds a question of her own to ask.] ...how long have you and Yukari-san been here?

... About seven months, give or take...? [ it's odd to think about. she nuzzles aigis's shoulder as she stops in front of the apartment door, looping koromaru's leash onto her wrist to rummage for her keys. time to open the door. ]

It's... been hard, without you. [ i've missed you, she refrains from saying, it's obvious ] But I'm glad you're here. [ she reaches down to unclip koromaru's leash, watching him bound off somewhere deeper in the apartment. her hand finally leaves aigis's so she can get her shoes off, stepping into a pair of slippers and shutting the door again. minako grasps her hand again almost instinctually, starting to step towards the living room. ]

Here's where I've been living. I've been packing stuff up because Yukari and I are moving into a place together soon, but...

[Seven months...

That's...almost as long as Aigis even knew Minako, not counting that fateful encounter on the Moonlight Bridge. Something inside of her tugs painfully when she thinks of it that way, and she raises her hand to her chest like she'll be able to grasp it, her expression momentarily puzzled.

Ah, but that's not important. The longing in Minako's voice, the implication of pain at Aigis's absence—that's what's important. She lifts her head as Minako takes her hand and leads her, and she knows this was something out of her control, but—] I'm sorry. I...would have been at your side if I could have.

[Guilt, naturally, but mostly just...empathy, for that hole in Minako's heart. Aigis knows the feeling well.

After a moment, though, she huffs, a small sound that suggests a nostalgic laugh.] It's strange. I had just moved in with Yukari-san, myself, when...this happened.

[ minako sits down on the sofa, gently tugging aigis's hand to encourage her to join her. she beams as she hears that. ]

She told me you guys lived together for third year! I'm... really glad you two had each other. [ it's a little wistful, but more out of a sense that she's missing out than anything else. her smile doesn't fade. ]

And I know you would have. You promised, right? [ she clasps aigis's hand in both of hers. ] It's not your fault you got held up.

[Obediently, she sits, sensing that Minako wants her close but probably still not situated quite as close as Minako would like, since only their knees are brushing as Aigis angles towards her.]

I was...excited to be her roommate. We're more similar than we realized. [In ways that unfortunately clashed, but it ultimately brought them closer too.

She registers, too, lived together. Yukari is already past that point. How strange, but then, Minako being here is already strange. Further discrepancies to address at a later date. Right now...

She lifts their joined hands, holds them close to where her Papillon Heart hums beneath her chassis. There's a smile on her face, finally, though her eyes shine with further unshed tears.] ...after the Abyss of Time, I realized—if I did everything I could to fight humanity's misery, I could ease your burden. I could still keep my promise. So I—

[A hitch in her voice, a crack in her smile as she closes her eyes and can't help but start to cry again.] You're what's most precious to me. So as long as we're both here... I'll protect you.

[ that small bit of initial contact alone makes minako smile. it's innocent, sweet—reminding her of those days in january on the roof and in the city, when her fondness for aigis crystallized into love. she remembers the feeling of pride and adoration blooming inside her at every bit of aigis's growth, and now—

now, she can feel the papillon heart's hum as aigis goes on, her own heart cracking at how upset aigis is becoming.

when aigis starts crying again, minako releases her hand to throw her arms around her, touching their foreheads together. she can feel tears brimming in her eyes, her voice hitching as she speaks up. gently: ]

That goes both ways, you know that, right? I love you so much, Aigis. [ there had never been time to tell her before, at least not in so many words, but she says it easily now, firmly, like reasserting a simple fact of the world— ] I'm going to be here for you, with whatever time we've got.

[The increased activity of Aigis's internal mechanisms is immediate, everything humming and whirring and clicking louder as she hears Minako's words and they...sink in...

She blinks rapidly, the gathered polish in her eyes trickling down her cheeks as she does. Her face warms rapidly, and uncharacteristic but not unheard of, she stumbles over her syllables.] Y-You...

[What is this? What does she do with this? The warmth inside of her is strangely heavy, dense with pressure that's hard to bear. For a moment her hands simply hover uncertainly between them, but as she processes further, her arms move to encircle Minako, gently as a human might handle glass.] I...

[Why does it feel like her tongue is stuck? There's nothing physically wrong with her. Her face would color with embarrassment if it could as her gaze flickers away from Minako's. She's known what it is she feels for Minako, even if not for very long; why is it so hard to say? After a struggling noise, she manages, clearly flustered:] ...I-I love you, too. Minako—

[it cuts off abruptly on an upwards inflection, the unfinished -san clearly on the tip of her tongue, but—

I thought we were past the -san.]

...Minako.

[ she lets out something between a laugh and a sob at that, holding on tighter than aigis probably dares to try to mirror.

aigis was always so excessively formal and polite. she may not have the stilted tone and speech pattern as much anymore, but the honorifics for even her closest friends remained.

even for her, until now. she knows the significance of aigis finally dropping it. so she pulls a hand back, resting it on her cheek and wiping some of her tears away with her thumb. even though it's not strictly new territory, because it's been a while and the situation is significantly different, she feels the need to ask. her voice is barely over a murmur. ]

Would it be okay if I kissed you?

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