prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .012

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.

▶ I am the Terror That Flaps in the Night
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 Your new flat is covered in a sprinkling of feathers here, there, and everywhere! They appear to be coming through the air vents. This seems to be a city-wide problem in all buildings, as many news outlets are informing people to stay alert. They believe the feathers are from the masked seraphim, King Majestas, who attacked the Elaran Amphitheater a few weeks back.

You are advised to destroy the feathers on sight. Prolonged contact with these feathers cause hallucinations and paranoia. You will feel as if winged creatures are always after you, be it one-winged angels or dark-winged ducks. Other side effects include hearing the chanting of voices in an indecipherable language out of this galaxy. These hallucinations may cause headaches, dizziness, or nausea. Thankfully, a bit of moonlacing will heal these symptoms away.

▶ Got Milk?
Level 2, Crystal Beach | top

With the Coiled Hearts Festival fast approaching, local fishermen have already begun procuring food across Crystal Beach’s clear waters to meet next month’s demands. Around this time of year, the popularity of octopus dishes dramatically rises. The Lunatians have an annual tradition to prepare flavorful octopus dishes for the romantic season, such as the much-lauded dark chocolate-coated octopus or the mouth-watering octopus braised with red wine.

Everyone is welcome to join this heart-throbbing affair. During the Second and Third months, everyone is encouraged to give your loved ones something special for a long, successful relationship. Friends, family, and new acquaintances are traditionally given a small amount of Demichroma in tiny cute cases, while lovers are given something that reminds the gifter of their homeland.

A Interested in catching your own octopus? Horned taurus octopi very frequently migrate to the shorelines to perform their elaborate mating rituals. It’s easy to find clumps of taurus octopi participating in a vigorous dance, filled with undulations and strange moaning noises that octopi should not be making. You can lure the octopi by either using a special flute which mimics their moans to gather them in heavy droves. It’s ideal to have a partner with you to scoop the octopi quickly into water containers once they’ve become entranced enough.

Play the flute carefully! If the taurus octopi grow too excited by your music, they will squirt white ink. If you are spritzed with the thick substance, you will start either randomly puking or uncontrollably secreting a milky sweet substance from any body part that secretes liquids. Luckily, the high-end boutique Prissy Polyp is nearby in case you need a change of clothes due to any sizable stains. Effects will naturally wear off after an hour.

B Come with a friend and enjoy learning some octopus recipes together. The Crystal Beach Resort has opened a seminar where several professional chefs will be demonstrating and teaching how to cook various dishes of different flavors and ingredients guaranteed to impress your date, and taste-testing is free!

One dish makes use of horned taurus octopi skin as the star ingredient, renowned for its irresistibly delectable scent. The chefs explain the palatable skin is a potent ingredient in various love potions and aphrodisiacs, so add or mix them to your dishes in moderation! The effects have a significant delay, so you may feel fine for a while, but when it hits, it hits hard. You will become enamored with every little thing — hey, you just met them and this is crazy — but that person’s smile, the sound of their voice, or the way they say your name will make you unable to resist the urge to shower them with your affection.

▶ Going Viral
Level 2, Moonlight Medical Center | top

“Help Wanted” posters can be found on virtual forums and announcement boards across Level 1 to 3. The Moonlight Medical Center has put out a call for volunteers due to a recent shortage of medical staff. The work involves filling in for overworked nurses, performing tasks such as feeding patients their meals, wiping away their sweat, changing their clothes, encouraging their spirits, and so on. Any volunteers may directly walk-in at the hospital. You will be provided a nurse uniform and any necessary equipment while on the job.

The shortage has resulted from the hospital recently taking in a severe number of patients from a nearby small village to the west of Lunatia, Port Sylvel, a known shipping and freight destination. The number of patients worryingly keeps on rising by the day and will soon fill all available rooms.

A Some of the patients are experiencing varying degrees of paralysis. The worst cases have crystallizing parts of their body. The hospital staff will stress that you should be careful around patients with crystallized limbs. Patients like these have a history of aggressively biting anyone who comes close hard enough to draw blood. Those bitten will exhibit similar symptoms as the victims, including crystallization on their bodies, and experience a steady drop in Chroma. An uncomfortable heaviness will cause you unable to move without the aid of others as well as an uncontrollable urge to aggressively bite someone.

While affected Moonblessed can cure it by moonlacing, the Prismals can only be cured by a gluteal inoculation the Lunar Scientia has recently managed to develop. The sick and beleaguered will probably hate you less if you aren’t the one trying to stabbing them with injections in the hindquarters.

B Aside from nursing duties, other available tasks to be completed include making coffee for fellow nurses and doctors, delivering flowers to patients, and general housekeeping. Specifically, disinfecting medical equipment, tidying up rooms, and cleaning the spaces around the hospital. As a result of the current situation, many crystal shards can be found decorating multiple surfaces, such as floors, walls, toilet seats, and so on. These will have to be swept away!

However, as your work day progresses, some of the shards can be seen suddenly moving on their own. These crawling shards will start clustering together to turn into elaborate, floating monolithic formations that will then begin attacking anyone nearby. Their main ability includes shooting diamond spears to impale any unfortunate victims in their line of sight. In the midst of the chaos, nurses and doctors will beg the Moonblessed to please protect the sick and wounded. The crystal formations can be destroyed by any method, though because of their incredibly sturdy composition, they require multiple hits before they shatter into dust.

▶ 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

[Level 80 culinarian, am I right?

Never mind that, he's so pleased about this, and they haven't even tried this yet! But he's pleasant, calm and patient. Actually, take back calm.]

Did you? [She may be smiling despite herself. It's tiny, and disappears as fast as it arrived.]

I have not worked with these specific ingredients before. It is why I am here, to also learn. What of yourself? Have you cooked a lot?

[Look, she can't tell just yet.]

[ Exactly! A master at her craft.

He's perfectly calm, good lady! He is just very happy to see you doing so well at something you love. He supports you and stans you. ]

I suppose an octopus is not all that common in many diets!

[ he vows to himself to get that tiny smile to appear again, and to grow! ]

Me? No, no I haven't. I could throw something together I'm sure, but I don't know that my men would appreciate it.

[Already she's adapted. And he's smooth. Mostly.

STOP BEING LIKE THIS.]

It is very popular in dishes! Anything with a lot of seafood. Although, not this kind of octopus, which is why I am here.

[STOP BEING SMOOTH AND TRYING TO GET HER TO SMILE.

On the other hand...]

I wouldn't mind trying your cooking, if you wanted to.

[It's okay, she has a strong stomach.]

[ he will never stop being like this. ]

Is it? Perhaps for coastal towns, then. You already know so much!

[ he might even clap for her. But her last comment surprises him, and he takes a step back. ]

Even after all that, you'd agree to try it? Well, you could try my octopus dish, if you truly desire!

[ he holds it up, entirely uncertain if he's done a good job or made something poisonous to other living beings. ]

Only a small bite would surely do!

[Damn. Guess she'll have to get used to it.]

Oh? Do you live away from the coast? My country is located along the coast of a continent.

[Thank you, beaches. And why does he seem to be looking very /aback?]

Of course, if we are learning together, then we shall taste together too, no? Ah, let me see...

[How to navigate this dish to try it out? He's holding it up, and she only need to take a small bite. She could lean in and do just that.]

Ah?

[That's her thinking about cutlery by the way.]

I certainly don't live near the beach, I'll tell you that much.

[ he offers her a laugh as he remembers the cold, snowy mass that is Camp Dragonhead. Then he shakes his head. ]

You are right, of course. It's just that your skill clearly exceeds my own ten fold! I would not wish to darken your afternoon with a poorly prepared sea creature.

[ that would be terrible!! But he's holding it out expectantly nonetheless. Until he realizes that it might be hard to just... take a chomp of a dangling octopus. He flings it out of her way and onto the counter. ]

Let me cut you a piece!

Oh? You do not? Where did you live?

[Apparently somewhere she would straight up die from the cold, that is for certain.

Also, she was so close to leaning in to take a bite after she decided that screw confusion, food is food, when he suddenly flings it onto the counter. NEVER MIND, HE'S CUTTING IT NOW.]

O-oh! That would be helpful!

[And she wouldn't look as much of a loser trying to take a bite. Also, that was actually impressive.]

Well, the city where I'm from is rather closed off from everything else. And the Camp I'm in charge of is in rocky highlands.

[ she would definitely die from the cold. but he's cheerful enough explaining it all to her as he cuts into that octopus.

it's embarrassing he did not think to cut a piece for this lovely lady sooner!

But he holds out the little square he's managed to slice off (not with his sword) ]

There, that should do it.

Oh...? [He sounded secluded, that it was kind of lonely, actually. And she was someone who liked solitude, and yet she thought of this. After all, countries are the loneliest in the world.]

In charge of a Camp? You must be someone of high rank. [A powerful captain?

Either way, back to this octopus. It's smaller now, so it's something she'd be able to consume, so she opens her mouth, ready to take it between her teeth.]

[ It would be lonely, if not for all the adventurers passing through! And of course his dear Francel is stationed somewhat nearby. Not to mention he frequently sees his father and brothers back in Ishgard.

Anyway, sings "show me the meaning ... of being lonely" at you. ]

I don't know about that. [ He chuckles. ] I merely lead a group of brave and gallant knights, all of whom are very talented on their own.

[ Oh... does she want him to feed her.... okay then. Allow him to pop that octopus right in there. ]

[It's a good thing that he's truly loved then.

Can't believe backstreet boys is happening.]

And humble too, from what it sounds like.

[Such admission is what makes a good captain, because one needs to know all their strengths and weaknesses. It's all part of leading them.

Also, nom! She starts to chew his cooking. Of course, she could eat almost anything, so--]

I do not think it is bad.

[ Ok but can you say that Haurchefant wouldn't jam to the BSB... ]

Merely grateful, that's all.

[ He smiles at her and then proceeds to witness the sampling of the octopus.

Part of him expects her to say she likes it just to be nice. Part of him hopes that he isn't poisoning her with an awfully cooked dish. ]

Hm? Truly? What does it taste like?

[They're going to go out to a concert and you can't stop them.]

That is a humble answer.

[She keeps chewing, now to try to taste it, since knowing that it wasn't terrible means she can concentrate.]

It's rather sweet, like how a octopus has that kind of taste. The texture isn't tough, either. Some could make that mistake with octopus.

[ See if I even want to stop it. ]

A true answer, either way.

[ He smiles, and stands back, waiting for her to make her assessment of the strange dish. He doesn't know if she's only being kind or if it is actually acceptable, but it makes him happy that she seems to be giving it a serious critique! ]

So it's soft, perhaps? Interesting. I ought to try some myself then. Can't trust a cook who doesn't taste his own food, after all.

[Damn powerful. Okay it's time to make it happen.]

A true answer? We are our greatest critics.

[He wanted an honest answer, so she's going to give it to him, of course.

And of course, with the octopus still on the board, she cuts it up, returning the favour, and gives him a piece of his creation.]

Then have a piece.

That we are. Surprising sometimes, but true.

[ After all, as a bastard, he is critiqued by others quite harshly! But he has indeed fought his own demons all his life. ]

Ah, thank you!

[ He takes the piece and pops it into his mouth, giving thoughtful chews. Chew chew. ]

Mmm, so, I hope you would remember that and know that you are possibly quite wonderful.

[And if she knew about his darker past, his ranks and achievements are all his own. And that would make it all the more sweeter.

She watches now, to see what he says.]

What do you think?

I thank you, nevertheless! Your words warm my heart.

[ He gives her a playful bow and then finally makes his assessment of the octopus.

Although its effects are just making him think everything is amazing? Or is that just Haurchefant all the time. ]

I think it's delightful, really! Surprisingly so.

I am glad, for they are the truth.

[What an elegant sweep, that she can't help but smile.

And then she clasps her hands together.]

See? I speak honestly of your cooking. Perhaps you are better at cooking than you think you are.

Thank you kindly.

[ He continues to beam at her, and then lifts his eyebrows slightly.

Was he being too hard on himself? Damn. ]

You're absolutely right! Perhaps I deserve more of a chance!

[He was being too hard on himself before, thinking himself more humble, and he did it again.

So she nods.]

I believe so. I can always help you, but I have a feeling you're a fast learner.

[ pls forgive him ]

I like to think I am. Always have been! But I admit to feeling bashful in the presence of a great chef.

[ Haurchefant, bashful? Nah. He's just flirting. ]

[She will always forgive him.]

B-bashful? My, I assure you, you need not be shy around me.

[She doesn't even know he can't be bashful yet.]

Is that so?

[ oh, how cute she is... ]

I fear you may be saying something dangerous, but I will keep it in mind.

[Okay but he's cute. And also, it looks like he's more than just cute, if from what he's implying.]

Dangerous? I suppose I should also add that I do not fear anything. Perhaps I would allow a great many things when it comes to you.

[He's just charming and nice, okay. Which means he deserves good things.]

I'M CRYING

YOU SHOULD BE?

it's good tears

oh. fine.

heh

don't you heh me

HEHS AGAIN

I will not stand for this

touches your face then

oh...

(blush)

🤤

🤤🤤🤤

why this

because...wait for it. heh.

did not see that coming

right what a surprise

i'm shakin

GASP

what is wrong with us

or WHAT IS RIGHT

:thinking:

:thinking:

idk what we're talking about anymore

everything