▶ TDM .012

[prismods]

love getaway

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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.

▶ 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.

Comments

[regression]

[ Huh... His interest is piqued. This isn't the platform he was expecting, but he doesn't see a reason to back down now. Maybe it'll be fun? There's a passing moment where he remembers cooking for the < Kim Dokja Company > because they were on a so-called company retreat. Fun—that's what they had, right? That memory seems so far away now.

Joonghyuk takes some time to examine the hardware and VR gear before doing the same as Ye Xiu. When the classes show up in his vision, he assesses what might be best... Then ends up picking something he's comfortable with—a swordsman. When he materializes, he takes a look at the scenery for a bit, then tests the immersion with a couple of simple though shaky actions. Some swings are abrupt with too much momentum, then others needing more. Obviously, he needs some adjusting to the game's environment and sensitivity. ]

Is this the type of game you played in your world?

[ In only a couple of seconds, his attribute kicks in. His once inexperienced movements become fluid, a stark difference from earlier. Okay, he's ready. ]

[nodus]

[ ye xiu doesn't say anything for a while. right now, he's more interested in watching joonghyuk as he materializes in the virtual world. the other's movements are janky at first, which is to be expected, VR has always been something of a learning curve from the beginning, but when he notices the shift, he almost whistles out of appreciation.

alright then. the sight of it brings a satisfied smirk to his face. ]

Nah, not really. It's close to it but Glory is a lot more complicated than this game. It wasn't VR either.

[ a KBM game more complicated than one played in VR... someone loves his main game way too much. then again, he's the guy who said he'll never get tired of playing it even after ten years (and many more after that, too).

he spins the spear in his hand, adopting an offensive stance even if he doesn't quite make the first move. maybe he just wants to keep the conversation going for a little bit longer. ]

Is this your first VR game?

[regression]

In a way, yes.

[ The Demon King Selection was closer to VR if he had to compare it to something, but not quite the same. Either way, he prefers keyboard and mouse. PC master race, but he can play any game—more that he has to. When games become life and death, you just have to get good or forfeit everything. Joonghyuk stays quiet, reminiscing the times he played professionally at the tournaments he can remember... The feel of the mouse under his hand, the camaraderie, the competition, the roar of the crowd, and the plays. ]

... It's been a while since I've played a game.

[ Being a gamer is part of his birth and he wondered if it felt right or if he only followed what was written for him. The answer finally settles on his shoulders, light and warm. Without another word, he initiates a countdown of ten seconds, possibly the most polite thing he has ever done in a while. At the count of three, he unsheathes and lines his blade with a golden glow that burns brightly in his other hand—it mirrors his soul, nerves alight. The effect washes over him the next tick, increasing his skill speed as long as the sword keeps its radiance.

Games are different from those deadly scenarios where humans are the underdog and he does value a fair match. The odd thing is that he waits where he is without a care when the match begins, as if waiting for Ye Xiu to make the first move. ]

[nodus]

[ in a way, ye xiu's voice turns a touch nostalgic when he speaks next. ]

I know that feeling.

[ it really has been a while since he's last experienced the game he loves so much that he'd been through hell and back for it— well, maybe that's being too melodramatic. however, a year has already passed before he made his way back to the stage, with all its glorious lights and hyped up crowds, the feeling of snatching victory by the skin of your teeth. and now it's been a year since he first arrived here.

two years is an incredibly long time for someone who already had a deadline.

three—

the countdown brings him back, golden eyes watching as joonghyuk buffs himself up. every movement of his is fluid, alarmingly so, as if he's just told a lie and really has been playing something like this for most of his life. the battle god himself moves in the same way, a light blue glow surrounding the rest of his weapon. it increases its damage, double its original stat. his own speed should be more than enough to counter the buff joonghyuk had given himself.

two—

one—

he leaps into action, bridging the gap between the two of them as he practically glides across the shallow water. he's sure the other would have seen this coming, but that's why he feints just before he delivers a direct blow upfront, turning in place to activate low-level skill instead: if he aims the tip of his spear with no disruption, it'll kickstart its knockback effect.

it's not meant to damage, but mostly to see if his opponent can be caught off guard. ]

[regression]

[ Joonghyuk's eyes follow Ye Xiu carefully, even when he finds him at his flank instead. His expression doesn't budge as he parries the spear with his sword that's covered with frost. Right at the second before the knockback effect applies, he launches the chilling strike at shotgun range that can be barely dodged by any normal player. Joonghyuk still flies across the arena and allows himself to land at the maximum range of the knockback right on his feet, comfortable with where he is.

His sword quickly draws a circle on the water's surface and a magical array appears in its place below him. Electricity starts running along his blade when he raises it and closes his eyes, charging up now that he's at a distance. It might have been better to cast a raining hail to extend the ice's slow debuff, but he doesn't foresee Ye Xiu being hindered too much or long if he even gets a whiff of the ice strike earlier. He has to treat this match as a special case.

Lightning is fast and precise, though difficult to control. The sparks wildly dance along steel with a flickering light mixed with the golden glow. This may not be as potent as a mage's skill, but it will have to do. He concentrates on the sound of any footsteps and rippling water, attempting to predict movements while wiping the electricity off the edge of his sword with his fingertips. When he opens his eyes, he points and lightning shoots out in a precise beam that fans out the more distance it covers. He's trying to bait his opponent toward a direction since he has another charge ready. ]