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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[It's okay. He's not wrong. Gilgamesh would definitely be a lot more pleasant if he just shut the fuck up. But unfortunately for everyone, he will not be doing that.]

Hah. Do not be foolish. Celebrations like these pale in comparison to the ones we had in Uruk. [Speaking of arrogance... While he doesn't care to correct Diarmuid, he also doesn't care to hide anything, either. But that's nothing new.] That only makes your blunder even more amusing.

[It wasn't even his fault? This is just bullying?? Honestly, it's not even like he dislikes him, he's just so easy to annoy that it's kinda fun to pick on him.]

But I wasn't talking about that. I suppose you'll see soon enough, though, in time.

[One day, Diarmuid will wake up with literal puppy ears and a fluffy tail and it's going to be hilarious.]

[ Diarmuid, forever trying to prove that he can't be bullied, never to realize that his attempts are what makes people bully him more. a self-fulfilling prophecy.

though... well. Diarmuid can't say that he knows much about Gilgamesh at all (beyond the stiflingly blinding confidence, the ease with which he wears his oppressive nobility), but the vague promise of something or other in the future seems... important to note, coming from a guy like him.

a pause, and Diarmuid opens his mouth again. considers his words carefully. ] ...What are you implying? [ listen, you can't expect him to anticipate puppy ears and tails in his near future....... ] Despite the circumstances of our summoning, I've been told that this place is more peaceful than not.

[That's a surprisingly reasonable response, all things considered. He kind of wanted to keep picking on him, but if he's going to ask the right questions, then maybe Gilgamesh is willing to give the right answers.]

That is correct, although it is no less troublesome. Or, well, I suppose it would be more accurate to say that it has troubles of its own. Even we are not immune to the influences of this world. [That was the simplest way of putting it. Of course, Gilgamesh, just by virtue of pure stubbornness, was probably a little more immune than most, but that's beside the point.] They are usually harmless, but you would do well to keep it in mind.

[Usually harmless, though he couldn't say that would always be the case. Still, he's actually being helpful. But is he gonna tell him about the tail? Only time will tell.]

On the other hand, you are no longer bound by the restrictions of being a Servant in a War, so at least there's that.

[ how cryptic. Diarmuid won't turn himself into the math lady meme over this, but there's a palpable silence as he tries to piece all of this together: "harmless, but troublesome nonetheless".

it doesn't bode particularly well— especially given that it takes a fair amount of interference to affect a Servant against their will— but, ah. he'll take it. he'll also accept that latter bit about not being bound by his War, too, even if that's somehow a more bitter pill to swallow. ]

...I see. Though it remains to be seen how truthful your points are— [ here's where Diarmuid's humility kicks in; that sense of propriety that he should probably just get rid of altogether, if he knew what was good for him. ] —you have my thanks for your candor, Archer.

[ Amazing.

that said: ] I suppose your title as 'king' isn't a complete waste. [ just a little jab. a little. ]

[Wow... Rude??]

Hmph. I don't need you to tell me that. [But despite what he says, he doesn't sound terribly offended, either. After all, he can imagine what sort of person Diarmuid must have met. He knows what kind of person he's been.] There are certain things one only becomes better at with age.

[And suffering. Lots of suffering. But this ain't about that.]

Even if we were enemies under these circumstances, I would have no reason to lie to you. [He wasn't much of a liar in general, really... It's just, you know, most weren't "worth" talking to.] But believe what you wish.

[It's amazing what time and patience (and suffering) can do to a man, really. But there might be a bit of bias, too, as Gilgamesh knows that this one might also be one of Chaldea's Servants one day, if he isn't already, and they're pretty okay, he's decided.]

[ hm. what a predicament.

caution shaves off of Diarmuid in slivers; the furrow between his brows lessens to the point where his gold eyes are rounded instead of narrowed, surprise coloring his expression instead of distrust. this is where his earnestness becomes obvious, where anyone with half an eye for human body language would be able to tell that Diarmuid is reevaluating the person in front of him.

he's always been a terrible liar, after all. and, perhaps, a terrible judge of character, but who's keeping track? ]

Is that so? [ why does it sound like he's just asking himself this question??? Diarmuid is such a weenus. ] ...I suppose our previous circumstances didn't lend us much of a chance to speak so civilly. If I've misjudged your character, then this may be the place to change my mind.

[ god, he's so useless. ]

[HE IS WAY TOO PURE... Originally, Gilgamesh wasn't going to bother explaining any of this, because honestly, it doesn't actually matter in the long run. But Diarmuid is just so earnest, he'd almost feel bad if he didn't...]

You fool. You should stick to your convictions more. It's not always bad to trust your instincts. [Normally, that would be an insult, but once again, Gilgamesh doesn't seem like he's annoyed. If anything, he's kind of amused, in a... good-natured way?] Whatever impressions you have of me are probably not incorrect. Some of them may even still be true. You could say I was known for being quite the rebellious youth.

[Isn't that putting it mildly?!]

In other words, the form I would usually take as a Servant is that of my younger self—that's what you would be more familiar with. A more adept Master, however, might also be able to summon me as I am now, or how I was at the end of my life. It's possible for a Servant's class to have an effect on their personality, but in my case, I suppose the opposite would be true. ...still, the form that you know is still very much the person I once was.

[He would never deny it, even if it was kind of like looking back on an embarrassing yearbook photo sometimes. That's just life, though. Still, because he knows that, he can safely say that no... No, Diarmuid is probably very right about Archer... Unfortunately...]

[ is he pure, or does he just have the survival tactics of a loofah??? time will tell. the truth of the matter is that Diarmuid warms— even despite the heavy Nasuverse jargon, he understands that this is just how the Servant system works. often nonsensically, with no regard for timelines or preparedness.

he considers the possibility of this being some sort of tactic. a way to lower Diarmuid's guard with clever words and a believable reality; after everything he's seen of his own Grail war, the chances of something like that happening isn't slim.

he considers, and then tosses that consideration aside. the process shows in the way he lowers his shoulders, the way he exhales through his nose. ]

If what you say is the truth, you haven't aged a day.

[ honestly??? damn, Gil. still lookin' good. ]

Well noted, former King of Rebelliousness. [ because he can't call him 'Archer' anymore, can he? ] However, all I can offer in return for your honesty is a name. Far from equivalent exchange.

[It is probably foolish of him to trust him so easily, all things considered—even Gilgamesh is aware of that, but he doesn't really mind it, either. For one, it'd make things easier if there ever came a time when they needed to rely on one another here, but more than that, earnestness was just something he could appreciate, a trait to be valued. It may be foolish, but foolishness wasn't always a bad thing.]

Heh. Of course. That's only natural. I am skilled in all things, after all. [That literally doesn't make any sense. But he's going to claim skill long before he claims heritage, that's for sure.] Fortunately for you, I am a generous king, and so I will not require anything in return. Well, considering I already know your name, it's not like it would've been a fair trade, anyway.

[Gilgamesh still definitely thinks way too highly of himself, but he is far from unreasonable. More than anything, he'd told him because it was convenient, not because he'd hoped to get anything out of it.

Then again, lessening the chances of having to fight a Lancer someday is kind of its own reward.]

[ can't believe Gil won't let Diarmuid have Class advantage this time around... unfair.

the funny thing is— this sort of rapport is familiar. it may be a bit of a stretch to compare someone like Gilgamesh to Fionn, per se, but there's some unwritten rule regarding people who are naturally meant to rule: they have the sort of confidence and resolve that may perhaps be off-putting, but not unwarranted.

Diarmuid exhales, and it borders on a laugh. he's dealt with this kind before, and gladly. ]

I suppose it would be an honor for a king to know my name before I give it, but it still rankles to know that you won't allow me my decorum.

[ literally the only thing a knight ever wants is that dramatic name-reveal... how cruel, Gilgamesh. ]

That said— my reputation may precede me, but I need something to refer to you by. If not 'Archer', then what else?

[Lancers are the only true bane of his existence... Well, after Ishtar, of course. But still pretty up there.]

Hmm. [Truthfully, it didn't actually matter to him too much. He didn't need to be called anything in particular since, well, names changed nothing. But...] I have been called many things. If you must use my class, then I suppose "Caster" would fit me best, but my True Name is Gilgamesh. You may call me whatever you please.

[Diarmuid has every reason not to treat this situation so honorably, and yet he does anyway. It almost makes Gilgamesh feel a little bad for picking on him... but only almost. There's no real reason not to tell him, anyway—aside from arrogance, which Gilgamesh certainly still has plenty of, but he can put it aside temporarily for someone so honest. He was not one to ignore the good in other people, especially when it was not always easy to be that way in the first place. But ultimately, he just had nothing to hide, either.]

I imagine you'd rather I keep yours to myself. But perhaps I will remember it.

["Perhaps?!"]

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▶ TDM .011

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