prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .011

Entry tags:

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

That will be helpful.

[he needs something forgiving, whether he's fully aware of it or not. flowers. people. zixuan works without looking at her. it's not uncomfortable, but if he thinks about it too much, if he allows it, the tension quickly builds.

she doesn't allow it. she continues on as if they'd actually traded a kind word, or a word at all back in their world, and zixuan finds himself grateful for it.]

It's the same for me. [all of it. his arrival. missing home. his retreat into this. zixuan finally looks over at her.] I-

[sect leader. his brows draw together at that, thinking quietly and trying to make sense of his confusion, though from already meeting those from different times and even different worlds, he should already know to accept more than he reasons.

...and when he realizes that he's just been crouching there like a lump, leaving her question unanswered, he gets flustered again. he quickly gets back to planting lotuses.]

Lady Wen, titles don't seem necessary here.

[say his name, say his name.]

( while he gives pause, wen qing straightens herself, prepared but not hopeful for a quick dismissal, should zixuan find her company unnecessary. she imagines this might be her general interaction with most people — pleasant to a fault, but always prepared for a retreat.

he doesn't shoo her away though, and wen qing finds herself releasing a breath she had withheld, watching him for a time as he stirs around the pond floor. )

I suppose ... the Sects are of little consequence, here.

( it feels a little. guilty, to say that much. like her name of wen might be wiped away just as easily as jin — whether that's fair, all horrible things of history considered. shrugging a little, she takes a step in closer to him, pointing out another patch for him to plant. )

Jin-Gongzi?

( to test, to taste. )

[it's a bitter pill to swallow. he can hardly believe that he's the one who said the words first. but soon people are going to catch on. the name jin still means everything to him, but there's no servants or disciples at his back. the splendor of jinlintai is just some sort of illusion in this world. jin zixuan will have to make his own name and his own way here.

he's not afraid. he's not even one bit intimidated. for the most part, that's true.

the work becomes easier as they go along. jin zixuan is starting to see results, actual lotus ponds around them. he feels stupidly pleased with himself, and that has a faint smile on his lips when he looks up at her.]

Much better.

[the ponds or the sound of his name or both. probably both. jin zixuan stands, and after a moment of hesitation, offers her one of the lotus flowers.]

I-

[why does he keep getting stuck in the same place, thank her, you idiot. his eyes flash back down again, reminding him of the water and mud on her. on both of them.]

There must be some way we can change.

( it warms her, to see him smile. she's not sure she ever bore witness to it in the cloud recesses or in the nightless city — though in all fairness she's always had some bigger priorities than making the jin leader smile, but. here and now? it doesn't seem like there's much else on her agenda, between the untimely nothingness waiting for her in the afterlife, and the seemingly endless directions she can take her time in prisma in. a smile is worth a lot more than a scorn, at least, and it's with a delicate hand that she accepts the offered flower, fingers brushing his as she does. it feels good.

her eyes stay rapt on it as she pulls it close, gentle hands wrapped around delicate petals. eventually she turns a softer smile up at him, gratitude lining her features. )

We could always leave. Or.

( she hums, before inclining her head to the nearby building, offering the chance to prolong the daydream. )

I'm not sure how I'll look in Jin yellow, but it's better than mud.

( if it wouldn't be an insult, for her to wear. regardless, the first step is getting out of the pond, and as wen qing turns to exits, her foot catches on a pocket of soft mud that gives way under her weight — and she starts going down in a quick descent to the muddy bottom, lifting her hands up first to protect the lotus before herself. )

[he doesn't need to look to know where she's nodding to. there isn't an inch of this place he doesn't know. what she proposes, what jin zixuan considers would surely make many tongues wagbut against him. to bring wens here in chains was one thing. to take them inside jinlintai and put them in jin finery was somehow the outrageous thing to do.

there are outrageous things here that he will surely resist with all of his might. this doesn't feel like one of them.]

Jin yellow looks better on everyone.

[pardon his pride, but facts only. jin zixuan starts following her out, only to go wide-eyed at the misstep.
he rushes forward, breath locked in his lungs as he reaches out for her. he can only breathe again after he has her firmly in his arms.]

Are...are you...

[as if he wasn't having enough trouble forming words, he has to go and notice just how lovely the doctor of the went clan is.]

( she clings onto zixuan instinctively, although if she had half a moment to think about it, she might've chosen something a little more proper. as it is, she has one arm flung around his neck, her free hand still holding the flower as something delicate, something precious. she and zixuan are virtually nose to nose, which she only realizes when she looks up and finds his eyes on hers, gaze flickering from eye to eye.

she — can't help herself. there's a breathless laugh that follows to cover up some of her embarrassment, and the strange thread of tension that seems a little bit ... comfortable, almost. she clutches him and giggles, looking between them. )

Forgive me, I — I'm stuck.

( and after a beat, )

Nice catch, though.

[he feels a rush of heat flood his face, first at the way the sound of her laughter makes him feel. second at what her reasons for it might be.

but it's not at him. zixuan relaxes, and the corners of his mouth tug up into a smile that looks too good on him to be so rare.

he keeps seeing the way that she held on to the lotus, protecting it even over herself. it makes his chest feel tight with surprising emotions, but for once zixuan manages to snap himself out of it. he bends to lift her out of the muck and into his arms to carry her out. he's a few steps out of the pond before he even thinks to set her down again.]

...This way, Wen-guniang

[inside, presumably for clean clothes. but he still has ahold of her hand.

in case she should slip. or something.]

( there is a kindness to zixuan that's perhaps too easy to miss on first sight — wen qing is as much at fault as anyone else, who would look to zixuan and see a nonchalant, generally cold exterior. lifted, she feels weightless, and apologetic to a fault that she's dirtying his clothes up further. zixuan doesn't seem to care regardless, and the lingering sticks to her like honey on the roof of your mouth, far sweeter than a lot of courtesy niceties anyone else might spare her. )

Thank you.

( she would offer a bow in gratitude, but it would mean pulling away from his hold. instead, she just squeezes his hand, feeling a little red in the cheeks.

following him, they head towards jinlintai. it's a grand building, dressed in yellows and whites and almost blinding on the eyes for all its obvious flex of wealth. they take a step inside and wen qing looks down at the trail of mud they've dragged in thus far — a wen steps inside the jin's capital building, and dirties the place up. she frowns, briefly tugging on zixuan's arm, to get him to stop. )

Look away.

( it might be equally insulting to stand here in her under robes, but the worse offense to her, even in a virtual landscape, is leaving work for someone else to fix. behind zixuan's back, wen qing strips off her outer layer of garments, leaving them in a folded pile at the palace's entrance. back to him, she recollects his hand, folding their fingers together. )

Don't look. ( she still reminds him, and then clears her throat so that he should continue. somewhat idly, ) Jinlintai is beautiful.

Edited (tmw u remember wq dies at lanling OOPS) 2020-01-27 00:01 (UTC)

[he comes to a halt with she tugs on his arm, looking back at her with a question in his eyes. he's not sure what the problem is. maybe if he actually looked down and noticed the mud on floors that he's never seen as anything but pristine, but he's more preoccupied at the moment.

zixuan looks away when she bids him to, heat building in his face when he hears what sounds like a lady undressing. he shifts uneasily, clearing his throat to speak right when she takes his hand again.

he finally gets it, and he's touched by the gesture. he's also ashamed of himself. she's a guest here, she's his guest. if he's made her feel the need to go to such extremes, he will remedy that.]

It's a reflection of everything that the Jin are. [flashy. wealthy. elegant. distant. zixuan takes only a few steps through its halls before coming to a halt.]

Lady Wen. This isn't right.

( stopped in her tracks, wen qing only looks up at zixuan’s profile as he speaks, eyes inquisitive but not offended. if she were a woman of great self consciousness, perhaps she’d think his comment is towards her familial lineage, and the disgrace of her footfalls in jinlintai’s halls. but. zixuan’s hand is still in hers, and his voice still kind and contemplative. her thumb brushes the height of his knuckles, watching him closely. )

A lot of things happen that aren’t right.

( take it from her. she knows. )

I think you might be the first man to say that in response to a woman taking off her clothes, though.

( a little playful. jinlintai was as fine a place as any to die in, but here and now? she thinks it’s capable of better memories, all the same. )

[she does know, in more ways than one. jin zixuan wonders if she means the eventual treatment of the wen clan, except her hand is still in his, and she's been nothing but respectful. to him. to his home.

and what has he allowed, both then and now? how respectful has he been in return? his robes are also dirty, and there are no servants or other cultivators roaming these virtual halls, but jin zixuan is still flustered about all of this.

until he remembers - ah.

he lets go of her hand, hastily removing his outer robe to place over her shoulders.]

If Lady Wen chose to take off her clothes, I would find a move comfortable place for her to do so.

( it’s not entirely a reaction she expects, pointedly flushing although she drags her gaze up to the ceiling to offer him a bit of a reprieve. still, her eyes find his as the robe comes around her shoulders, staring at him as if weighing the offerings between two options. yes or no? forward or back?

she hums. )

Where, for instance?

If she were interested.

[jin zixuan's eyes widen a little at the question, breath caught in his lungs. it's a simple "what if" type of question. no need to panic too much.]

Jin yellow indeed looks good on you.

[zixuan murmurs before looking back into her eyes.]

But...if you were interested, and wanted to shed it, I promise you that no one would disturb you in my chambers.

[did he just ask a girl to his room, has he finally evolved.

maybe if he wasn't blushing so hard.]

( the blush is a cute look on him — complimentary in the yellow of his under robes, like a little wen sect reached out and dotted him across the nose. if wen qing was nervous, she isn’t now. nothing instills confidence quite like finding someone even more out of their depth than you.

she levels with him, inclining her head in certain way to make her implication more obvious.

laying it on thicker, now. jin hide is a bit more dense than she expected. )

And if she wants a disturbance?

Then-

[then, what? it's hard to tell if the stall is in his brain, or if something just fails him between it and his mouth. but it's impossible to look away from her eyes, and her amusement is almost a challenge.

zixuan quickly mends his confidence. what does he really want to say to that?]

Then I would gladly provide it, and make sure that we were not disturbed until early the next afternoon. ...A lady would need the morning to rest after such exhausting activities.

[look at him being proud of that last part, isn't he cute.]

( it's another deliberate once over that seals the deal for wen qing — confidence is perhaps the most attractive thing jin zixuan wears, beyond all his fine adornment and rich clothes, and wen qing finds desire curling up her throat, locking her in a shortly lost battle of resolve. women should be much harder won than this, shouldn't they?

ultimately, she's dead, so what does she care? the universe might owe her some good, and she's prepared to take it by demand if need be.

tugging his arm forward, wen qing takes the lead role in guiding them, taking steps backwards into the hall as if worried zixuan will lose that glint in his eye if she doesn't pin it there with needles. )

If it's a promise, I won't take kindly if you break it. ( flashing him a rare, wolfish smile. ) Until I'm exhausted, that's your word?

That's my word.

[stronger this time, his uncertainty turned to steel right before her eyes. jin zixuan matches her every step, his own just a bit bigger until the slight distance between them has been reduced to nothing by the time they reach his chambers.

he wants to kiss her right there. it's clear in his eyes, in the way that his hands go to her waist and fingers curl against the small of her back. but zixuan waits until they're through the doorway properly first. he won't let his passions run wild for everyone to see, like some beast. he won't be like-

and then he's bending down to kiss her, and he forgets what he was thinking about entirely. this world around him is fantasy, and zixuan reasons that this might be too. but it feels real...she feels so warm and real, and it takes no time before he's crushing her against him, lips traveling down her neck.]

( they're just two people, chasing off the ghosts of a warring family's reputation. in the back of her mind, wen qing could worry about a hundred different things — like where the lines between reality and the virtual world cross, like what the implication of laying with a man is. but he kisses her like a wave crashing against a rock, seceding from the ocean, and she's not worried about much of anything, really. the tides are always coming. if kisses were all it took to save her from dying, maybe she would've been more concerned with that aspect of her life when she still had it. as it stands, she's teaching herself to be selfish — lifting her hand to palm up the back of his neck, to get lost in anything that isn't the guilt she wallows in.

because guilt won't save her. it won't safe zixuan, either. they're two inevitable tragedies, in a world that demands blood as penance for the foolishness of being born under a name that bears weight. it doesn't matter what happens here and now, because wen qing knows the pyre waiting for her soul has already been lit aflame. you can't unstrike a match. everything else, everything in prisma is just ... extra. whether that's kindness or not, wen qing isn't sure.

but she is sure that if her life was unkind to her, death is going to take a knee and repent.

sighing as he moves, wen qing shudders, letting the jin yellow fall from her shoulders. lowly, she moves her mouth down to his ear, humming to get his attention. )

Take me to bed. ( affectionately, she turns to bump her nose on his temple, almost nuzzling him. ) You have a busy night planned, Jin Xizuan.

[things have always been decided for him, and jin zixuan has had little to say against those decisions, because that's how good sons and strong sect leaders are made.

her body and lips pressed against his would never be something that was chosen for him, but it's what he wants, and he's confused if it's weakness or strength to admit that. but she whispers a suggestion against his ear, and it's the first thing in his life that he's agreed with from the very start.

he nods against her, catching his breath before picking her up to cary to the bed. zixuan braces himself above her for a moment, both hands and one knee pressed against the mattress. she's beautiful, all dark eyes and flushed skin, lips darkened from his kiss. he blinks a few times and glances down, but his gaze almost instantly come back up again.

it's all it takes for him to want to kiss her again, closing the distance between them once more and letting his lips travel over new skin - her cheek, the spot beneath her ear, down her slender neck. it's not long before his hands refuse to be idle too, sliding over the thing material covering her body to explore her curves. gone, that's what it needs to be. but he reminds himself of her words - they have all night.]

You're warm... [he murmurs against her mouth, not realizing that it's his own body heat that's rising. he drags his own undershirt off first before guiding her hands to him.] It's never felt this warm in here before.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

▶ TDM .011

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject