prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .012

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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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well he had opened it up for morbidity to begin with.

"I don't mind if you must. But if you don't can we just say we did? I feel like if I let you I'll get in trouble," there was no reason to make a show, and in the end his debts were long ago paid.

But, a moment to be more serious and smile a little. "Perhaps being here truly is a blessing."

"I don't exactly feel the need to right now." Honestly, he had never really felt that WuXian had paid anything for the decade he was gone, hence he kept hunting him. Knowing now that he had actually sacrificed his golden core for Jiang Cheng and that had led to so many things that he had done, he was more willing to forgive, even if he never admitted it out loud.

"I guess it is. In a way."

"It's a world of what if," he had no particular attachment to back home. Suarez there were places he loved to be that were comforting and familiar, but in the end he could be on the moon for all he cared as long as those he loved were around. And this place was full of those people, even the ones he wouldnt dare dream of.

"And now, this has been far to serious with you and that octopus," of course the one crawling up him was already reaching his shoulder. "Did you make a friend? Will you keep it as a pet now?"

"Essentially. We have second chances with those who were lost in our world, more chances to spend with those we never see."

Considering he was living with HuaiSang as his chroma partner, someone he didn't see that often in their world, there were certainly more chances.

"You are talking about me and this octopus when you have one that is climbing up?" At least his octopus is really just sitting into his hand although it kept reaching out to hold onto him. He was part of the environment for it. "I might. It's not like that would be unheard of. I wonder what Xiaobo would think about it."

Yes, a pet name "little wrestler". Three guesses what kind of pet it was, given this was Jiang Cheng.

"Of course I do, I'm just that irisistable, it must think I'm it's wife. Ah~ I don't want the affections of a sea creature!" He didn't really do anything to remove it though, clearly the complaint was for show only.

"Your dog is going to eat it probably," and of course it had a weird name, they always had weird names. He didnt want to think about it, he definitely knew where he was never going to go visit though.

Edited 2020-02-24 23:43 (UTC)

Jiang Cheng stared at WuXian for that comment about being the octopus's wife. Really? That's your first thought, WuXian? "I doubt it thinks that at all."

"Possibly if I let it out on the floor. He's not big enough to get to it if it's in a tank of water." Come on! Xiaobo is a good pup and the tiniest thing ever! He knew WuXian was scared of dogs... but still.

It was a great thought! It was the sort of thing that should get a good reaction. "Are you sure? I was singing to it sweetly in its own language," he took this moment to play the little flute again with its terrible moaning sounds. Of course, that riled them up again. He did stop before any shooting of white liquid started, however.

He really didn't want to think of the dog, being violated by an octopus was a better thing to think about, not that he wanted that either.

Jiang Cheng just stared at him as he played on the flute and got the octopi riled up again, including the one in his hand. Great, get his octopus upset too. Thanks... "You call that playing? You call that sweetly. You have a terrible sense of humor."

Well, he'd prefer his dog's company over an octopus, but he felt weird about killing it now since he had been holding it for so long.

"The man explained it to me, this is their love song! So though it sounds terrible to is, it's a serenade to them," look at them all jiggling, they definitely seem happy.

Or horny.

Or something?

He would make fun of Jaing Cheng forever with his new octopus friend, but also find it endearing if he keeps it.

"Well, at least something finds that noise appealing." He did eye the octopus he was holding curiously as it was more active now. It probably needed to go back in water soon too.

WuXian will never know if the dog at Jiang Cheng's house would pretty much guarantee he would never set foot in there.

"How long have you been here?"

“A few days since they found me, a day since I saw Shijie....” he was surprised to run into Jiang Cheng so quickly. It must have been fate!

At least it wasn’t a terrible meeting, so he can be grateful for it.

“How long have you been here?”

Fate. They seemed to be drawn together like that.

"So then you know she is here already? And others?"

He's curious if he knew about ZiXuan yet.

"Over seven months now."

"She gave me a list," he at least knew the people she told him. "I dont know how I feel about some, and that they come in twos."

Seven months, that was a lot of time. At least, a lot of time to be in another world and out of the cultuvational one.

"No wonder," maybe being somewhere else allowed him to cool his head a little.

"Yes, I have similar feelings about some of them and I'm confused that we have ended up with multiples of each other." And a little concerned about it considering what happened previously with his own double.

"No wonder what?" He frowned that there was no explanation. He started to cross his arms, but... octopus, so he didn't.

“It is definitely a thing, but it’s an interesting thing. Have you never wondered what it would be like if things were a little different? I would not mind meeting my other self, I’m so curious,” and Lan Wangji, because any Lan Wangji had to be fun to tease, he had to tease this other Lan Wangji as well.

“No wonder you are more amicable. Especially since you haven’t even experienced me at my best moment yet!” Not that Jiang Cheng had been much nicer then, he was never good at saying how he felt about things, was he?

"It is a strange experience meeting yourself. It's... nice to see ourselves when we didn't know what will happen, but strange at the same time." He kind of wonders about the things they do, but he's an old man compared to them now.

"Things have happened here." HuaiSang was a big part of it. Having someone so devoted to him, someone where they both had understood and kept each other's mutual secrets... it did a lot to help calm him down. Plus having worked things out with WuXian once before.

"It makes you think about the past I suppose," he can only assume. He had only ever seen himself from an outside perspective once, and it really was a frustrating one! Oh he was so arrogant! No wonder people were mad with him and threw him to the side.

"Not that it means anything, but, I am glad things have happened," he had never wanted to be estranged... he just couldn't throw aside his principles either.

"It certainly does make one do that." He'd been thinking about a fair amount since his double had appeared. What life had been like back then. How they had treated each other. What should have been done. Not that "should have" fixed anything, but sometimes one couldn't help think about that.

"There are things that I wish could be changed, but... doing so is impossible and unpredictable in its result." Principles were a good thing to have. Too bad he hadn't realized why WuXian had turned his back on traditional cultivation. If he had, maybe he could have done something before it got out of hand.

That, too, was a "what if" and even knowing what he knew, he hadn't shared this info with his double. It would be his own choices and not what he had learned here if he remembered.

"There are things I wish I had done differently as well," he should have gone to Gusu when he had first run into Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng when he was torturing Wen Chao. So many things could have been avoided, and maybe... maybe he could have somehow been able to save Wen Ning and help Wen Qing in a different way....

But, there was no way to know. There was no way to change that.

"Despite our hardships though, the way things are now, I wouldn't trade it."

Edited 2020-03-06 22:42 (UTC)

Jiang Cheng sighed. This octopus was really getting in the way his normal behavior of being brooding and crossing his arms. He can't do that! Of course, he could also put it back, but he hadn't made a move to do that yet either.

"I wouldn't either," he finally said after a few long moments.

It was a good look, don't be so quick to change it! Lighten up! Live!

Wei Wuxian grinned and inched over, the octopus that was climbing up his body was almost to his shoulder and nearly fell off as he moved towards Jiang Cheng. He raised a hand and patted Jiang Cheng on the shoulder leaning over slightly.

"We finally agree with something! You really have softened. Is it because you're in a relationship? Is that all you needed? I knew you needed someone, you shouldn't have been so resistant!"

The fact that WuXian was carrying on while there was an octopus climbing on him was more amusing to Jiang Cheng. Of course, he couldn't really talk because he too was carrying an octopus.

"Why would you assume that it's because I'm in a relationship?" he scoffed. Well, not entirely... but HuaiSang did have a big part to play in it.

"Because you have never had one before and you are so less... prickly now? At least... it feels more like before," someone was there for Jiang Cheng, someone who could support him and stand with him.

"But you can't say that's entirely because I have someone."

Welp, he just admitted it is WuXian had been fishing to try and find out if he really did. And it was very much true. He did have someone that he was living with and that he loved very much, but he wouldn't credit it all to being able to have someone to spend time with regularly.

"Would it be that bad if it were?" Why was this an argument? Was he trying to say he had made an effort himself to be less of an ass?

Well, if he wanted to that was fine. He was just glad to be able to talk normally for an extended period of time again.

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