prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .013

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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.

▶ Welcome to the Jungle
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.

▶ Let’s Do the Time Warp Now
Lunatia | top

Time is relative, but the days do seem shorter — or longer — than usual. A minute passes like an hour. An hour passes like a minute. Everything appears to be moving along as normal, but the numbers and hands on clocks flicker and spin with an unusual and worrying slowness or quickness. Eventually you notice that the darkness of the night barely lasts long enough for you to fall asleep while the sun seems to glare down upon you for an eternity. The temporal shifts disorient your body, which now grows lethargic from being overworked and underslept. Soon, the temporal abnormalities reach a critical point…

B Due to the temporal distortions, Prismals and Moonblessed new and old feel their bodies sporadically transform in the strangest of ways. Your joints ache like they’ve carried a lifetime’s weight of misfortune and regret. Your voice turns high-pitched like a certain pair has yet to drop. You turn into a confused infant in one moment and the seasoned fighter you always wanted to be in the next. Your memories also shuffle around along with your apparent age, leaving you confused and unsettled. The transformations can occur and last for as long as the 11th, when everything turns back to normal without incident. That time your baby self peed in your pants? Never happened. Until then, moonlacing seems to stabilize the weird abnormalities.

▶ Starlight, Star Bright, First Star I See Tonight
Lunatia | top

The city’s landscape is not spared by the erratic flow of time. Buildings and streets continuously flicker between the beautiful and vibrant paradise it has become to the ruins of glory days long past. Your eyes may struggle to adjust as you try and convince yourself of what is real and what is not. High rise towers one moment will become wreckage the next, filled with technological debris and the echoing cries of the terrified, and the mighty wingspan of an unknown creature continues to hovers in the distance. The illusion will only last but a minute before you’re back in the present, going about your daily business. However, your trip from the future and back is far from over.

Soon, breaking news reports will inform the city about the sudden vanishing of certain celestial bodies in the sky. Though the moons remain where they should, the nights grow longer and darker as the stars in the sky start disappearing one by one until only the sun remains, eclipsed by some mysterious force. Lunar Scientia has already sent capable teams to investigate the abnormalities, so they ask the public to be patient as they wait for the reports. Until then, they have issued safety guidelines and measures to effectively light the city. The Caelus Tower appears to burn brighter than ever.

C For these dark hours, Lunar Scientia releases their latest Chroma-powered technology for Moonblessed use: star lanterns. When a star lantern is held by two Moonblessed, it absorbs newly generated Chroma from them, enabling it to light up the missing stars in the sky as you travel from place to place. The light’s color and intensity will depend on you and your partner’s bond, the spectrum ranging from a violet of hatred to a red full of love. Indifference, however, will not light the lantern at all. It also comes with a float function so that it can be released into the atmosphere without needing to carry it everywhere. Since the technology is limited in stock, Moonblessed may only have one star lantern in their possession.

One of the issued guidelines is to never walk through dark alleys alone even with the lanterns, as the crime rate has increased lately due to those taking advantage of the chaos. This is especially rampant in Level 3, at the mouth of the Lightless.

▶ Oh, They Just Can’t Wait to be King
Outside Lunatia, Port Sylvel | top

On the ides of the third month, an emergency broadcast appears from Captain Natela:

Captain Natela

Greetings, Prismals and Moonblessed.

It is with a heavy heart that I announce that Port Sylvel has been completely crystallized. The Moon Knights are currently recruiting willing explorers and scientists to investigate the cause. Investigations are still pending, but the outlook is grim. The only survivors were among the few we carried out of the city last month. The rest perished from the crystallization.

Our heart goes out to those affected by this plight. There is no cause for panic. There is no sign that the crystallization is spreading beyond Port Sylvel. We Moon Knights stand with the people of Prismatica, as we have done for centuries. We are not mere defenders of a city but protectors of a planet. We endeavor to find the cause of this tragedy and bring peace and justice to the lives it claimed. Until then, we ask for your cooperation. Stay calm and press onward.

Those who volunteer to participate in the expedition will be rewarded for their efforts. They will be assisted by experts from the Lunar Scientia as well as the bear Prismal and Moon Knight Fahrouk, who looks worse for wear after hearing the news.

Officer Fahrouk

Oh, Moonblessed. It's you. Yeah, Hala is doing good. Won the spelling bee! I think she might make the nationals. ... I… I don't think I ever told you. Port Sylvel was our hometown. My wife is buried there. We’d go there every spring. Hala loved picking the flowers there. Did you know that different flowers grow in Port Sylvel compared to Lunatia? Haaaah...

Moonblessed! I know you think I'm not cool enough to hang out with you, and all I do is ask for your help, but please let me go with you! Please… This is something I have to do as a soldier, a husband, and a father.

… What? You always thought I was cool?

Finding strength and resolve after the participants tell him he's supposed to assist them on their mission anyway, Fahrouk distributes LIFE suits to the participants as he briefs them on what they're about to do. He and the participating Moonblessed will then be transported via a large transport vessel.

Port Sylvel is hardly recognizable. What was once an idyllic coastal town is now a site of tragic beauty — crystal formations encase buildings and Prismals like jagged glass coffins, as if preserving life in its final moments. Readings from life detectors tell you that everyone in the crystal has passed on, but you and your fellow Moonblessed think you can still hear their cries of distress carried along by the wind, warning you about the Prideful King.

D Gigantic crystal lions flank the passage of the port city, their wings spread open and blue flames pouring forth from their mouths. You hear rumbling guttural noises, and if you approach them, their roars will escalate to warn you about proceeding any further. Beware: a single bite from these lions can easily tear through the LIFE suit and cause your body to crystallize quickly unless someone rushes in to moonlace with you to halt the effect. These lions are unlike the beasts you’ve fought before: their otherworldly strength is overwhelming, and nothing seems to wear them down. Destroying them seems pointless, as they quickly regenerate the minute they are obliterated.

Eventually, transmissions from the LIFE suits announce an order for escape. Buildings collapse and shatter in your wake, and the ground quakes violently as something awakens in the far distance...

▶ questions

If you have any questions regarding this test drive meme, please ask them in the Questions thread below.

WHO CAN POST? ▶ Test drive memes are for new characters only. Existing players may not post starter threads in the test drime meme. 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.!

IS THIS CANON? ▶ 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.

ANNIVERSARY ▶ Happy first anniversary, Prismatica! Thank you to all of you who have been with us since the beginning. We appreciate it immensely! Remember that we always welcome input and suggestions from players. This event is a little out of the ordinary because of our anniversary celebration.

OPT IN AND OUT ▶ For current players, please do not be alarmed! As always, you do not have to be affected as there are safe areas across Lunatia that remain as is.

AGING UP AND DOWN ▶ You have free reign over how long and how many times your character will be affected. If a character doesn’t have a canon appearance from the past or future, you are welcome to provide one of your own from imagination and use your own PB. You are allowed to speculate on how they’ll look, act, their potential future, and so on. All of these will be temporary to this event. The intensity of the effect is also up to you: whether it will only affect appearance alone and retain their current memories.

IMPORTANT ▶ As a reminder, writing sexual content with characters below 15 years old is a violation of the game's rules and potentially Dreamwidth’s ToS. Players caught doing this will be banned from the game.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, god. Not the Time Warp again!

[ First, he was trapped in a realm of eternal night. Then he was stuck in an unnatural realm of eternal twilight. Now, in this new world, it looks like he's about to get sucked into a realm of eternal daylight and he does not like the implications one bit.

Of course, he isn't going to glare at the sun, but maybe that phone-looking thing the Prismals gave him when he first got here might help... Yet, when he unlocks the screen, the time on the screen seems to be going haywire. ]

What?! [ He glares daggers at the screen as the numbers abruptly slow to a halt, seconds and all. He glances around for a clock... Well, this person passing by will have to do. ]

Excuse me, do you have any way to check what time it is?

The sun goes down, the stars go out
[ Nevermind how the stars are going out like this when it's scientifically impossible, Shin's taking this mess as a bad sign. Someone or something is messing with the day and night around here...

Unless day and night happens to work differently around here, but past experiences are lingering in his thoughts as he's walking down the street. He's oddly more alert than usual, keeping an eye on the disoriented crowd milling about and looking for strange shadows lurking in the darkness. Yes, he knows it would be ridiculous for him to run into any blue eyed Voids here, but what if they followed him--

The sound of screams interrupt his thoughts. All at once, he finds himself standing amidst ruins of buildings and panicking crowds. From out the corner of his eye, he spots a massive pair of wings spreading across the horizon... ]

AAAAAAAHHHHH!!! [ Shin stumbles backwards in fear and bumps into a pedestrian. The next thing he knows, the scene changes back to normal as if nothing ever happened. ]

Ah... Excuse me. [ He dusts himself off as he slinks away in shame. Maybe he needs to go home and rest before he loses his mind. ]

When the hitman comes, he knows damn well he has been cheated (CW: Thoughts of murder and tampering with dead bodies.)
[ Crime's gone up recently, hasn't it?

That makes for a grand show from the window of his apartment, does it not? Sure, it's a little dark for someone to be watching the outside, but Shin's gotten a little used to trying to see things in the dark. He can make out pairs of people passing through with lamps, people scurrying past with or without any source of light... People harassing others for money, people running off with other people's wallets...

Nothing too dangerous. Yet. But Shin's hoping to see someone get killed... No, what he truly wants is to resume working with his favorite medium, and for that to happen he needs to be sure about what happens when a murder is committed here. Yes, this world has a police force, but in times like these...

For now, he contents himself with watching those passing through beneath him. He might have to settle with fetching a body from a dumpster this time... ]

Wildcard
[ Do what ya want. You may want to look at Shin's permissions post, though. ]

[For once, he's not a small child (not that he would remember), but unfortunately, being his usual self means he's stuck wearing all black during endless sunlight. While walking around, he tries not to let it show to anyone that he's actually dying in his uniform. Face deadpan as always.

He wasn't expecting any randos to talk to him while he was exploring, but he supposes he can answer a simple question. Sougo takes out the communication bracelet only to find that the time display keeps shifting wildly.]

Huh. Mine's being stupid as hell too.

[Speaking of being stupid as hell: time to solve this problem with some good ol' violence. Sougo takes the device and hits it against the nearest lamppost.]

[ You must be really jealous of Shin's eccentric pink shirt and its rolled up, oversized sleeves...

But thanks for confirming the situation... And attacking the lamppost with the phone. It's so stupid, he can't help but smirk at those futile efforts. ]

And you think damaging your bracelet will fix things?

[Your shirt sounds a hell of a lot better than his own uniform. Sougo won't even take his coat off because he's stubborn that way.

And he's a Gintama character. Unless he's in a serious battle arc or planning a prank, he's stupid.]

It won't break, it's flexible.

[He stops hitting it for a while and pulls both ends downwards. The phone indeed bends out. See?]

But maybe I need to hit it on something harder.

[Now he's moving to hit the device on your head.]

[You don't have to wear the uniform, right?

Anyway, as he's got no reason to know about the fourth wall, the most logical course of action is to grab the man's wrist and try to stop him from hitting his head.]

No, stop! That's not how technology works!

[No, but he's so used to it that he'll wear his uniform anyways.]

Maybe not in your world. How do you know if you don't give it a try?

[Sougo tries to push through your grip right now while having wide grin on his face that shows he knows exactly what he's doing. He'll also be alert if you'll make any sudden moves against him.]

[ He sees what you're doing, you little shit. ]

Gnh! Then bash it against your head, you brat!

[ He's gonna try to parry the arm away and get some distance from him, at least. The last thing he wants right this second is a fight. ]

Edited 2020-03-11 05:08 (UTC)

[Sougo wasn't necessarily looking for a fight, just to get an amusing reaction. And looks like he's enjoying what he's getting.]

Eh? But I just have a normal head.

[Aww, you're too far away now. He doesn't want to put too much effort into this prank, so he'll bash it against the street lamp one more time. Then he'll look at it with a face of feigned surprise.]

Look, it worked.

[ Shin is not amused, and he certainly doesn't trust the guy not to try it again if he gives into curiosity and comes closer to check. ]

Does it? How fortunate for you.

[You would be correct. You'd be getting another whack to the head if you had tried to verify it for yourself.]

I was right all along. But maybe it would've worked sooner if I used your head.

[Purposefully not giving you the time, but you seem smart enough not to fall for that.]

[ That is true, Shin has realized you are not going to be helpful in any way. However, he also doesn't seem to take kindly to the joke. ]

What do I look like, a magical toolkit?! Go bash it on your own head if you must!

Yeah.

[What is a rhetorical question?]

By the way, do you wanna know what the time is?

No!

[ He turns on his heel and starts storming off in a huff. ]

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firstsaderesponder - 2020-03-14 23:54 (UTC) - Expand

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twoasone - 2020-03-18 14:39 (UTC) - Expand

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firstsaderesponder - 2020-03-20 04:14 (UTC) - Expand

[While Shin is doing some people watching tonight, he'll suddenly have a text being sent to him from his phone from Danny.]

Are you busy right now?

[Well, this is unexpected. Wonder what Danny wants now.]

No, why do you ask?

Would you be interested in walking around the city a little with me? I'm not sure how much of it you've seen yet since you're still new here, so I wouldn't mind pointing out a few places that might be of use for you during your stay.

[ He glances at the phone and wonders... Well, he should look around the city, but he can see the crime going on around on the streets.

And that saw he has is much too obvious to walk around with. ]

Perhaps. Do you have an extra weapon on you in case we run into trouble?

[ Hint hint, nudge nudge. ]

Of course. Just because we're in a new city doesn't mean we should be unprepared around here.

[And sure, death is meaningless... which, he really should make sure to tell Shin about at some point while they're out, but even so, Danny simply refuses to not be armed in some way in case another person ever posed a threat to him regardless.]

[ That is why Shin asked about it. It just seems insane not to be prepared. ]

Excellent. Shall we meet outside my apartment or yours?

[ Here he turns to fetch the star lantern off the countertop (the stupid starter furniture had been set to something more acceptable to his tastes since he last spoke to Danny). Perhaps this thing might see some use after all... Though he did want for a proper flashlight, the lantern might have to do. ]

I think yours would be best. I'm already outside, so it'll only take me a minute to meet with you.

[And when Shin does step outside, he'll see that Danny is dressed more casually than his labcoat, likely having gotten his hands on a coat similar to the one he used to have back home. He does also have a flashlight but it's in his pockets for the time being.]

Shall we be on our way?

[ Shin doesn't bother to respond to the text. It doesn't take him long to walk out with the lantern hanging off his arm. ]

You must be eager to show me around.

That, and I also wanted to talk to you about some things on my mind here.

[Whatever these things are he doesn't hint at yet, instead gesturing around them a bit.]

So how much of the planet have you explored so far anyway? Since you arrived here, I mean.

Hm. As do I...

[ He's giving Danny a slight glance, but maybe he'll just ask his own questions first before Dr. Therapist can go in too deep. ]

I've done some exploring in the nearby area, but whatever's happening to the day and night... Cycles have been very disorienting. I'm sure you understand.

[ Maybe Danny won't. The doctor hasn't been trapped in one time of day for over a month. ]

[At the mention of cycles, Danny thinks Shin is referring to the moon cycles specifically, so--]

Mm, indeed. Even after being here for a few months, I can't say it's something I've easily gotten used to here.

[But thankfully it's not Iris moon cycle at the moment so he doesn't have to deal with rabbit parts or weird hormones.]

. . . So you're saying time isn't supposed to work properly here?

[ Has Danny checked his watch lately? Because the erratic flow of time is what Shin was referring to. ]

Edited 2020-03-19 04:10 (UTC)

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doctorize - 2020-03-19 16:00 (UTC) - Expand

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

▶ TDM .013

Shin | Angels of Death Episode.0 | Antumbra CRAU

time warp

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cheating hitman??

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