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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[And he catches it, the sudden brightening in the other man's face, and it only makes him smile all the wider.]

Oh, I'm the Captain then, am I? Now there's a change.

[Not that he isn't up to the task-- born in the belly of a ship, having spent much of his life on the water, he knows his way around any number of vessels with the same fluid ease as breathing. Never mind that, even in his fantasies of owning a sloop of his own, he generally dreams up someone else - some lover, or friend - to be the Captain.

For this particular occasion, though--]

In that case, Captain Julian Devorak, glad to make your acquaintance. And if this works as I think it does, and we can dream up anything we please...how about a galleon? May as well go all out, eh?

[He makes a flourishing gesture towards the VR machines with near-startling elan.]

[ Captain Tusktooth will remain on the down-low until one of Fjord's pushy friends demands that he make a reappearance, leaving one human and a half-orc equally as disenchanted with captaincy as each other. Julian looks confident enough to be in charge today, at least. ]

Fjord, [ dropping the silent j, ] and why not. A galleon ...

[ Hand on a hip, he gestures with the other one as if seeing the ship on the horizon, emboldened by Julian's enthusiasm. ]

She'll be a tri-mast with a huge deck, cannons to line her sides. Six or eight. [ Getting into the description, he adds, ] The bow has a beautiful woman on the front with long hair and a dress growing out of the wood of the ship, with carved flowers all around her.

[ Wildmom. ]

If that's alright with you, Captain Devorak.

Hah! First Mate Fjord it is, then.

[It's clear he's getting into this now, enthusiasm only cresting higher in the wake of the other man's willingness to indulge him. This place-- it could grow on a man of his persuasions.

There's a quicksilver gleam to his one visible eye as his new acquaintance dives into a description, leaves Julian nodding with evident eagerness. Has him casting a glance in the direction of the other man's gesture as though he can see the ship, already.]

And oh, that's more than alright with me. She sounds a beauty, sure to do us proud.

[And he's stepping forward towards one of the waiting pods then, strides wide and confident, coat flung out in his wake.]

Shall we, then? Our ship awaits!

[He's both eager and hopeful of a truly immersive experience.]

[ The machine itself is a little intimidating, like nothing he's ever seen before. After a moment of steeling his nerve, he steps up behind Julian in the pod and —!

Screws his eyes shut.

In an overly confident voice, he agrees, ] Absolutely! Go ahead, you. Ah, you turn it on!

[ Because otherwise Fjord may well send them under the fucking ocean instead of on top of it from thinking too hard. ]

[Julian displays decidedly less reticence than his new friend, strides boldly into the strange machine, only pausing once standing inside. Nothing like this exists in his own world, technology many, many years behind, but he's been away for long enough now to have some knowledge of modern machines. The place he'd found himself thrust into before here, it had been an advanced one, to his eye. And as such, he's had a little practice.

Still. He scratches his chin as he looks everything over, takes just a moment to try working it all out, mutters quietly under his breath--

--then takes the plunge. Plunks at the controls until the world around them seems to shift, the walls of the pod melting away until they find themselves standing on a wooden deck, the scent of salt in the air, a pleasant breeze kissing their skin. The deck rolls gentle under them as though they're cutting through real waves, and abruptly Julian claps his hands together, lets out an exultant laugh.]

Hah! Look at that! Seems plenty real, doesn't it?

[ One moment they're in the stuffy pod, the next — ]

Whoa.

[ They're at sea on a beautiful galleon who rides the waves like a hot knife through butter, sails taut with a strong breeze and sunshine gleaming on her warm wood. The sea reflects the clear blue sky as Fjord rushes over to the railing and he barks out a laugh as salty spray catches him in the face, staring down in astonished joy at the droplets he wipes off on a palm; overhead, gulls from a far-off coast screech as they wheel around; below, fish glimmer silver under the surface not so far away. ]

It's like magic! [ A very, very powerful illusion, perhaps. He looks up at Julian, grinning widely. ] Come over and see! The water is so clear.

[It doesn't take much to persuade him. He crosses the boards in several long strides, leather-clad hands curling over polished wood as he peers down at the rolling waves beneath them. There's the familiar creek and snap of the rigging above their heads, the water below so desperately blue that something in him almost aches.

It has been a while. He's missed this.

Again, there's the bright ring of his happy laughter as he tears his singular gaze away from the cresting waves and back towards his companion.]

It all looks so real, doesn't it? Even ah, even feels real. What a marvel! I'm not sure even the very best magicians back home could conjure up something like this.

[And he really ought to know, having dated one.]

[ Even when Fjord was at sea with the Nein, none of them appreciated the ocean as he did. His love for it was often overcast by duty to the group, either pretending to be the captain or seducing the psychotic captain of the ship that captured theirs. It's nice to stand beside another sailor who sounds so pleased by everything around them, even if it's all fake.

Fjord glances over to find himself being watched. He cocks a hip and leans on the railing, letting the salty spray whip back his white bangs and cool the shorn sides. ]

I think it's the crazier wizards and sorcerers who whip up new realities for themselves, all the fun ones just want to make a fool of you.

[ Like Caleb making Fjord look like he was in a weenie bathrobe in public. Bastard.

He jerks his chin at Julian. ]

Not a student of the arcane yourself, I take it?

[And it feels good, the snap of the salt-sea air, the scent of it, the kind of homecoming he's sometimes dreamed of during the very darkest parts of the night for, oh, months now. Too long.

The moment leaves him so cleanly lit up inside that it takes a moment for the other man's words to sink down into him, and he's happy enough that the ache that comes with the thought of his ex is a small one, just a little twinge behind the ribs.

Because he has to wonder what sort of magician that makes Asra. A slippery one, often distant, sometimes unkind, and always, always oblique. Not crazy he thinks, but not the sort who just wants to fool you, either.

That question comes though, and quickly, he laughs. Runs a hand back through salty curls.]

What, me? Hah! No I er, no. I'm singularly useless at magic, ask anyone. Aside from this little curse of mine but that um, it was bestowed on me by someone else so hardly counts.

[ Fjord's brows fly up at that casual little mention. ]

You're cursed? And you're fine with it?

[ Sailorbro, u ok?? ]

Oh. Well it's something of a long story really, but um...I'm rather used to it, these days. It's not such a bad curse, all things considered. More useful, than anything.

[He shrugs, like it's nothing. Never mind that it had been a source of bitterness and strain for the better part of three years, that it's only recently he's come to understand it better. Knows, at last, where it came from. Has come to accept it.]

Healing magic, you see. Not a bad thing for a doctor to possess. More effective than leeches, anyway.

Oh, like a reluctant Cleric then.

[ That's some funny imagery. "Helping you not die is a curse, you're welcome". Fjord fights to keep his lips straight and fails. ]

I'll do my best not to break a leg and inconvenience you.

[He laughs then, half-apologetic.]

My dear, it's really no inconvenience. I am a doctor, first and foremost. It's only that ah...well. I thought for a long time that my ex had done it to spite me, you see, and I'm...I've never quite understood magic.

[Used to fear it, distrusts it a little even now.]

That and um, well it works in rather a specific way. I lay my hands on you, your broken leg passes over to me, and then my body heals it. I don't really mind all that but ah, do try not to break anything, all the same.

[ The kindly My dear briefly reminds him of Molly. ]

Oh, shit. [ Julian's ex? Damn. The healing process? Hella damn. In a level voice he comments, ] That's severely fucked up. Was your ex so awful that you genuinely thought they would have cursed you like that, with such harmful irony?

[ And then his mind wanders to Avantika; yeah, actually. He can ... imagine an ex like that. ]

I certainly wouldn't put it past him.

[His tone, it's desert-dry. He'd thought it a cruel nod towards his propensity for masochism for years, a sharp jibe in response to the desires he'd quite openly displayed, but--]

I was wrong, though. And I'd like to think that both he and I have grown a bit in the intervening years.

[ Maybe Avantika could have grown past the whole end-the-world-by-summoning-a-dark-leviathan theme she had going on, if she hadn't had her neck snapped by the Plank King. Ah, well.

Fjord clears his throat. ]

Well, whoever he was, he certainly made a mistake by letting you go. [ Trying to lighten the mood, he offers up a friendly smile from where he slouches against the railing, wind whipping at his hair and cloak. ] Cursed or not, you seem like a perfectly charming fellow to me.

[The return of his bright smile comes ready and quick-- he's eager enough to let those particular remembrances go, feels more cleanly done with that particular chapter in his life than he had 6 months ago. His time in Duplicity, it has changed things, or begun to.

He leans back against the railings himself, elbows propped high, turns his head just slightly towards the fake ocean that nonetheless looks (smells, feels) so much like the real thing. The slight movement goes some way towards hiding the flush that colours his cheeks, stretches over the bridge of his nose.]

Oh. Hah. Well. Really, you're too kind. Charming maybe, but a rogue and a scoundrel all the same.

[His smile though, it becomes a wicked thing. Playful around the edges.]

But! What better place for a rogue and a scoundrel than sailing the high seas, eh?

[ Fjord is perfectly happy to flirt with a pleasant companion, turning to face the sea at Julian's side. Bumping the doctor's elbow. ]

I'll have you know, good sir, that you're talking to a Paladin and Warlock of the Wildmother. I am a holy man, nowadays.

[ The way his eyes dance say that he. Kinda isn't. Newfound faith doesn't make him some kind of priest but it's not entirely inaccurate either, and a running joke in the Mighty Nein. ]

Oh-ho, a holy man, is it?

[He says it, and his wicked smile remains, even as the flush to his skin shows no sign of abating. To be both bashful and flirty all at once-- it's an odd combination maybe, but one that can be found in him.]

Does that mean I'd better watch myself, then? Be on my best behaviour?

Edited 2020-01-24 16:24 (UTC)

[ The yellow of his gaze remains slanted sidelong on Julian as Fjord tips up his chin, affecting a haughty air in what would be a decent impression of a richbred swine if his voice hadn't dropped to a warmer, deeper octave. Julian's flush is flattering, after all, and it's been a while since someone Fjord found agreeable flirted back. ]

Oh, you can be bad, but there will be consequences.

[Now those, those are the kinds of words he likes to hear. Julian's teeth catch bright at his lower lip, and he turns back now - just slightly - in the other man's direction.]

Consequences, eh? How unfortunate for me. Try as I might, I just can't help getting into trouble.

[ A candle almost goes on in Fjord's head as he finds one very playful doctor suddenly giving him his attention, bitten lip and all, and he knows that somewhere out there the Mighty Nein is howling with laughter at his inexplicable ability to meet hot redheads on ships. The fucking boat isn't even real this time, and yet. What a legacy.

Julian has a sweet humour about him, not to mention some distractingly long boots that draw a glance or two as Fjord looks over the figure better inclining itself toward him, taking it as an invitation to do so and making no effort to hide the fact. He turns toward him to step closer and back Julian up a little, caught between a half-orc and a hard railing. Despite the inch of height difference Julian has on him, Fjord's lingering once-over sizes him up to be more slender than that big coat pretends, and while Fjord may not be as strong as some of his friends he's still confident that he could pin down this human if he wanted to. Easily.

The lidded look in his eyes conveys as much. ]

If you ever need to confess, I'll fit you in.

[Fjord steps forward, hemming him in, if not with height then with presence, and something in Julian responds like a light in the dark. He melts back against the railing with a gentle kind of bonelessness, posture loose and invitingly open even as he lifts his chin, a subtle indication that he wouldn't mind one little bit if his new friend were to move in closer. The railing bites hard against his back as the waves roll underneath them, that firm pressure brightening something in him just as surely as the look on the half-orc's face, the lazy progress of half-lidded eyes over Julian's long form.

He's brought to mind of other ships, at other times, in other places. Of the kind of trouble he tends to seek out rather than try to evade. His silvery eye flutters briefly shut before moving to the other man's face, and the colour in his cheeks drops one shade deeper.]

If it's sins you like the sound of, my dear, then I assure you, you're in quite the right place to hear them.

[ That is a guy horny for a good fuck, and damn if Fjord can't practically smell it on him. Bloody half-orc senses. It's a lovely sight too, highly appreciated and stored away for later. ]

Oh, I'm sure.

[ Winging this Naughty Sailor/Holy Man thing they have going, he reaches up to tilt Julian's chin toward him and arches a brow as he lets an orcish growl rumble through his words. ]

Why don't you try being a good boy for now, and you can tell me all about it the next time we meet up?

[A guy horny for a good fuck, indeed. Fjord's fingers find his face and Julian leans into the roughness of his touch, hands curling conspicuously inside the buttery leather of his gloves. The half-orc's voice goes guttural-gruff and Julian's heart beats hard in his chest, the low sound he makes one of unabashed - and undisguised - longing.

He leans in instead of back this time, bringing them that much closer--

--but gets the message. They in a simulator in a public space after all, not truly alone on the open waves with no one around to observe them. He lets his sound of longing turn to one of ambitions cruelly thwarted, instead. Despite that, the look on his face-- it's all flirt.]

I can't make any promises, but I'll try to reign myself in.

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