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

[ alisaie is more surprised there's some kind of royalty that got brought here, for whatever reason it surprises her. it'd be like if nanamo ul namo showed up.

still, she shakes her head. ]

If you're sure it won't bother her, I'm more than happy to say hello.

[ she's loathe to leave someone from eorzea alone just yet. ]

[ She gestures for Alisaie to follow her as she takes a few steps down the hall, opening the door with a twist of her key. She calls - ]

Princess? Princess...?

[ No response. Hm. She opens the door for Alisaie as she steps in - the apartment is colored a light green with some pastels, but it's not overly feminine. Especially not with all the blueprints and such scattered around. Just a cursory glance shows that the blueprints are for various weapon types - some drawings are for clothing, some elegant, some understated. Allumette sets her groceries down on the kitchen counter and huffs. ]

Perhaps she went out. Ah, well. Can't keep a Xaela too long, and she knows how to take care of herself. I'm more worried for anyone she bumps into, if they manage to invoke her wrath.

[ She gathers a few project blueprints off of a stool, gesturing for Alisaie to sit as she pleases. ]

Would you like something to drink? - how much have you seen of the city?

[ alisaie takes in the apartment as a whole - the colors, the blueprints, calling for a xaela princess. she would almost ask if it's kurenai, but she knows that the ruby princess is a raen, not a xaela, so that stills her question. ]

Is she a particularly angry princess, then?

[ she takes the seat as indicated, hopping on top of the barstool and hooking her ankles against the rung. ]

Just water is fine. I've explored enough of it to find the apartments, but I haven't truly looked around yet.

[ Allumette pauses as she takes out a pitcher from the fridge, eyes winged to the ceiling. ]

Dunya isn't angry, she's...

[ A long pause. ]

Discerning.

[ The nicest way to say "spoiled". Pouring water, she slides a glass over to Alisaie. ]

If someone dirties her dress, there's hell to pay. Despite it all, she's a very brave woman. I don't think most would be able to brave Ishgard's winters or its people.

Nevertheless... where did I put it...

[ She rustles through some drawers, giving a soft "oh" when she finds the pamphlet and map. ]

Here it is. There are some levels that are a bit safer than others - even when you're armed, I think it best to exercise caution when straying into seedier levels.

[ she may not know allumette or this dunya well, but she can definitely hear what's being unsaid. still, the mention that she's a xaela who travelled ishgard has her humming slightly. ]

Ishgard? Was this before or after the dread wyrm was slain?

[ context: it matters. she takes the pamphlet and map, examining them as she curls a hand around her water. ]

Ah, I see this note about Level 4.

[ allumette should know that tone, even if alisaie doesn't know she does. it's the 'i'm gonna go there anyway and see what's up'. ]

It was before - hold in a tick, what's that tone? It sounds like you're going to do exactly the opposite to what it suggests.

[ She doesn't realize the hint she already gave, her protective instincts kicking in. Alisaie, don't do something she...

Already did and is a hypocrite for advising her against but Alisaie doesn't need to know that. ]

[ shhh, do as allumette says and not as allumette does.

either way, alisaie looks up with a very good approximation of innocence. sneak, her? neverrrr.

it fails on people who know her, though. ]

No, I'm simply observing the note. I have no intentions of poking around there.

[ Why doesn't she believe her? (Many good reasons.)

Allumette knows she can't air them though - instead she starts unpacking the groceries, careful with what seems to be a good amount of prepackaged foods and some actual foodstuffs to cook with. ]

I would hope not, but one can never tell with an adventurer.

[ Pot, meet kettle. ]

[ don't mind alisaie getting into her food business instead. adventurer! hah, if only she could call herself that. ]

Is that some kind of food in a box?

[ listen, she's seen meals that are pre-packaged, but they're usually wrapped in paper and you eat them on the same day. not this thing in a box with a picture of what looks like pasta on it. ]

Oh, that?

Yes, it's a pasta with a cheese sauce. You add butter and milk together with the pasta and dried herbs inside, and it all comes together into a meal.

Neither I or Princess are culinarians. We just have to do the best we can without the rest of our team here.

Fascinating. I'm used to preserved food being something dried or a paste. Not anything as fancy as that.

[ she gestures to the box again. at the culinarian comment, she snorts. ]

I don't think many of us are, to be fair. My skill has mostly ever been remembering which plants are edible.

It's an interesting way of having a meal, that's for certain.

[ She gives the box another glance herself before she tucks it away into the pantry. ]

Though I do hope you're joking and you didn't just forage out there.

Did you know there's quite a bit of edible plants that survive under the snow in Coerthas?

[ absolutely DELIGHTED to share this information with allumette. ]

[ A long beat - ]

Alright, alright. Dinner is at 7:30PM sharp. Lunch is at noon. Breakfast we usually take whenever we get up so you might have to make your own there, but at least have lunch or dinner with us.

I am quite sure I can manage to make my own breakfast. And if you are so worried, I will, gladly. Just allow me to help from time to time? And, er -

[ here's where she gets a bit sheepish. ]

I've a twin brother, Alphinaud, who arrived as well. He might be perturbed if I go without him.

[ equal parts exasperation and fondness in that tone. also, if allumette has had her ear to the ground, alphinaud may be a familiar name, alisaie fears, since she doesn't know that allumette already knows them both. ]

[ Allumette has to stop herself from just smiling when Alisaie mentions Alphinaud - aww, they really do care for each other, even if Alisaie's close to strangling Alphinaud sometimes - but she manages to do it. Phew, it's so much easier to keep a straight face when she knows she has to act the fool! ]

Oh, twins? That's rare... the more the merrier. I certainly don't mind another at the table. Our team is usually a group of five, after all - I've missed having more people around.

Nearly identical. It caused some grief during our school years, to put it mildly.

[ allumette has probably heard the story about the naughty girlfriend and the mistaken identity. when she mentions a team of five, allumette gets the sight of a truly fond smile. ]

Ah, you must miss them. I've a group of friends that usually works together as well but we've been... far apart, recently.

[ thancred with ryne and urianger, the warrior doing their best and crossing between two worlds, y'shtola poring over books with alphinaud, leaving alisaie to do her own legwork. ]

[ Allumette mirrors that smile, even if it's a little sad. She knows the Scions are fine without her and Dunya - they still have Arenlona, Pimelle, and Ranatan, after all. They handled themselves fine (well, when it came to Thancred, maybe not as fine as they could've been...) without any five of them either, so... really, what were Warriors of Light worth, anyway?

Of course, she didn't mean that seriously. ]

I do miss them, as it sounds like you do, too. I'm sure when you meet up again, you'll fall right back into place.

You have your brother here, though. At the very least, that's family. I'm afraid I was an orphan so I don't quite have the same connection... but my friends are all very attached to their families, even if some drive them mad. Who knows - maybe more will show up, as Princess showed up for me after a month.

Family isn't only who you're born with. Anyone who says it's only a blood relation is mistaken.

[ because yes; she loves her brother, loved her parents and louisoix. but she also loves the warrior of light, would gladly call y'shtola a sister, urianger a strange combination of an uncle and brother, and thancred has always treated her like the little sister he didn't have unless you included minfilia. ]

[ There's something sad in her gaze, but she nods with a smile. ]

Oh, certainly. You're right there.

[ Allu understands what she means, but there's... ... problems, with thinking of her friends as her family. ]

Edited 2020-01-30 08:54 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

▶ TDM .011

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damn it