▶ 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

[chalicejoker]

"How could I?" Hajime throws one of those crystal creatures over an end table containing several out-of-date magazines because that seems to be a better idea than throwing Kenzaki over the table. "You could have sealed me. Probably should have, then you wouldn't be in this mess..."

Okay, so maybe not this specific fighting weird crystal creature mess, but he assumes Kenzaki knows what he means.

[kenzaki]

"This was a better option!"

How many times has he had this argument with the Hajime in his head? He's never managed to win it - but he knows what he did was right. Well, not right, but the only choice.

"I'm not in a mess."

He says it with conviction, but let's just ignore how he's had to keep moving from place to place so people don't realize he doesn't age, right? It's still better than sealing Hajime.

[chalicejoker]

"Was it? Was it really?" Just going to hurl a creature across the room now. "I never asked you to give up everything for me!" Punching another creature. "Or for...feelings."

Yeah, that crystal creature he's fighting is definitely getting some feelings taken out on it, alright.

[kenzaki]

"For feelings?" Kenzaki squawks, and he's hit hard enough in the stomach to make him stagger back. He chances a quick look around. Good, the civilians who were close have managed to escape.

"You never would've asked me to, that's why I did it!"

That doesn't even make sense. He doesn't care.

[chalicejoker]

"I know, you're too..." Boy, there are a lot of words Hajime would like to say there. Most of them are complimentary, all of them are too hard to work out.

Easier to fight things than talk about feelings, so there, he's going to hurl another monster across the room. It hits a vending machine, some cans of soft drinks roll out.

[kenzaki]

Kenzaki's head whips around when Hajime fails to finish that sentence. Whatever he was going to say, it can't've been good! Probably!

The crystalline edges of the monster shatter against the machine, and it falls to the floor as the cans clatter out too. Kenzaki curses under his breath. They can't help it, and he knows no one will fault them for it, but they're causing more and more damage in here.

"Think we can encourage them to follow us outside?"

....us. Us. Us. He relishes the word, knowing how soon he'll have to give it up.

[chalicejoker]

"Yeah, I think so." Good, good, focus on the fight and not on the feelings. Hajime starts moving towards the door, and some of the monsters looked like they're going to follow him. "You come too--some of them still want you."

Good, he cut himself off before he could add an and I want you to that.

[kenzaki]

“On my way,” Kenzaki says immediately. Was there an emphasis? Some of THEM still want you? He really pissed off Hajime, didn’t he. Maybe he’ll at least be able to explain, before he has to run again.

He gathers up the ones he can manage, and starts herding. Maybe if he transforms, they can take them all out in the carpark.

[chalicejoker]

Moving the enemies out into the open to minimize collateral damage is a time honored tokusatsu tradition sound tactics, and so Hajime focused on that. It was still easier than all the super complicated feelings he was processing, especially since Kenzaki didn't seem to remember Liminal. He didn't say anything else for the moment, just kept fighting...possibly a little more ferociously than he had been to start out with.

[kenzaki]

It feels good to do something so normal- well, ‘normal’, again. He ducks under a kick and transforms, then lines up a selection of cards.

[chalicejoker]

It does feel good to do something so normal, doesn't it? Hajime seems a little happier punching at those crystal creatures now as Kenzaki starts to transform.

[kenzaki]

It's a relief after a really fucking strange couple weeks. Kenzaki leaps through his cards, as usual, and a bunch of the crystalline monsters blow up and vanish, with the heat of the explosions briefly warming his face. Hajime seems to have dealt with the remainder.

He lets his transformation go. and ruffles the back of his own head awkwardly. What should he say now, before he runs?

[chalicejoker]

Hajime swipes another card down his belt, releasing his own transformation, and...

Well, he takes a step towards Kenzaki. Progress! Even if he desperately wants to either hug the other man or to tackle him so he can't get away.

[kenzaki]

Hajime is there.

He's right there. Looks the same.

Kenzaki stares for a moment, breaks into a huge grin, and then raises a hand, grin gradually falling away. "It's... it's really good to see you. Sorry. Have to go."

He doesn't have to explain. Hajime, of all people, knows why.

[chalicejoker]

"No, you don't."

...that's it, he's totally going to try to tackle Kenzaki to keep him there.

[kenzaki]

"End of the world, remember?" Kenzaki says with horror, taking a step back. What the hell? He turns to run but a moment too late, and they crash to the ground.

[chalicejoker]

"For the last time, we're not ending this world!" Hajime is going to make no effort to move other than to hold Kenzaki there for a little bit, because with the way this world works, touching someone he cares for so much feels great.

[kenzaki]

He's been hugged, more than once. Had a gentle touch on a shoulder, or someone touching his hand in appreciation.

Not like this, though.

Not for so long.

Kenzaki only struggles for about half a second, then he just stares at Hajime, and... and breathes him in. It feels so good.

"How do you know?"

For the last time?

[chalicejoker]

"...I just do." He's had more practice in holding down those Undead instincts. More time spent doing weird crap; this isn't the Kenzaki he's already been through other worlds with, the one he's already had many variants on this argument with. It makes him hold on a little tighter.

[kenzaki]

That doesn't help!

Hajime's holding him tighter. Kenzaki breaks into a helpless, hopeless smile, and hugs him back. "All right, all right, I believe you for now. Are you going to let me up?"

[chalicejoker]

"...I suppose so." And he does, albeit reluctantly. He remains unconvinced that Kenzaki won't just immediately run away.

[kenzaki]

Kenzaki gets to his feet, feeling almost as if he's as old physically as he should be. He gives Hajime the fondest, fondest look.

...yeah, he actually does believe him, for now, but that doesn't mean he actually trusts it. The second he has any kind of an aggressive urge towards Hajime, he'll know that it's all gone wrong.

"It's still good to see you," he says, knowing he's repeating himself, but he doesn't have the words. He hasn't had the words for a long time, if ever, and he's been away from his life for a long time, too. Emotions are hard. Feelings are stupid. Love Strongly liking someone is especially stupid. "I keep expecting to wake up."

[chalicejoker]

"Yeah." Hajime manages a smile. An actual smile. "It's good to see you, as well. It's been too long." Longer, maybe, for this version of Kenzaki than the one he'd been...last familiar with...but he doesn't care. It's Kenzaki. There are a great many emotions here, and they're all difficult to process, but they're so, so nice.

[kenzaki]

...look at that. That was a smile. Maybe Hajime's not as pissed at him as he'd thought.

He should be able to tell Hajime all the things he's been thinking. All the regrets. All the hopes. All the wishes he's had, that Hajime (and Tachibana-san, and Amane-chan, and everyone else) could live good, happy lives.

He should probably apologize for that whole thing with the phone call, too.

Moving right along...... there has to be something else he can ask. Oh, yeah. When he got back to his own world and Hajime hadn't run riot, that was quite a good thing. Maybe it was because Hajime was here. He asks quietly, "Have you been in this world very long?"

[chalicejoker]

Awkward small talk it is! Because wow, that's a lot easier than trying to tell Kenzaki everything that's happened...or to even come close to expressing what he'd been through with the last version of Kenzaki he'd been with. "No, not really." He frowns slightly. "And I'd like to think I would have picked up on it sooner if you'd been here for long."